Hello,
lists wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have been thinking about a security issue with every office document
> that it might be a good idea to include into the ODF specification.
>
> The history of edits, or "Change Tracking". I know that this is a
> heavily used feature and cannot be removed from the specification. The
> problem lies in keeping that history in the document. I do not know of a
> single person who will retype a letter completely from scratch if they
> have one that can be modified slightly to meet the current need.
Good point. Indeed, I almost always reuse existing letters (and
documents, not just letters), and I am working in a governmental
setting. Most people I work with do the same. Actually, even
spreadsheets get reused: the old version is opened and it will be saved
with a new name.
However, I am not yet fully convinced that a separate file is necessary.
But there should be a mechanism to ensure that confidential information
is not passed inadvertently to persons not intended to view such
confidential information.
A possible solution is an option that requires that all tracking changes
are deleted IF a document is saved with a different name. This should be
set by default.
Sincerely,
Leonard
> This is
> a common practice even with business communications with clients. The
> problem with this is that the history will often contain confidential
> information about the client it was originally written for.
>
> I propose that the ODF address this issue by requiring that such history
> data be stored in an external file rather than the original document by
> default, to make ODF files meet all regulations pertaining to data
> protection [ Privacy Protection Laws ] and reduce the risks of account
> specifics being passed on to those with no right to them.
>
> Microsoft's Office format files have the history embedded into them,
> which was shown to contain every single revision, including a credit
> card number in one case. This caused me to look at an OOo file and a
> K-Office file, both have the same issue of storing the history like
> this, with both using the ODF file specification as default file type.
>
> It will be easier to get the Office Suites to change their handling of
> history functionality if the specification is changed to require the
> change tracking to be separated from the main file.
>
> Jaqui
