Leaders ability to track member outreach, circumstances

[mdigi]

What if one of those members with extensive notes becomes a leader and now sees everything that's been written about them?

That is also a very important point to keep in mind.
A member doesn't even necessarily need to be called as a leader to potentially read notes about them -- major data breaches (Google, Azure, AWS, ...) routinely happen in today's world.

Technology can definitely make our lives easier, but easier often yields worse results for privacy/security. I would definitely closely follow the instruction in the General Handbook, 38.8.31

If private/confidential matters or notes need to be discussed, I would recommend having those discussions/sync-ups in-person within a private setting.

[mdigi]

Sure, the Church ran before computers. We had General Conference before it could be broadcast world-wide via satellite.

Hang in there, Brother. Things are slowly improving.
It is definitely a great blessing being able ot watch GC via streaming (and older addresses on-demand) these days

[BrianEdwards]

Re: the OP, I think we all sympathize greatly with the burden leaders face when trying to ensure that members who are going through challenges that last a while, are not disadvantaged when there are leadership changes. And also trying to manage issues that go across organizations, where it's crucial to share information as well as notes and updates, in a timely manner. For anyone that has been on the receiving end of Church outreach, it's quite frustrating to feel like nobody remembers any of the previous efforts that other leaders made, or conversations you had with different leaders. Obviously there's a lot of grey area when trying to manage digital data (nobody is solely using paper to manage everything), and trying to determine what is confidential and what is not. Yet the Church has purposefully and intentionally established policy that provides strict guidelines, as shown in GHB 38.8.31 and elsewhere -- and as with most issues, the Church is unlikely to provide explanations.

When I found myself in a position of responsibility where there were members with truly important life issues, I took comfort in remembering that this is the Lord's work, and while Church policy may constrain me and those other leaders I was working with, He would honor and bless my efforts to work within those constraints. Even when, or maybe especially when, I may not have agreed with those constraints. That often helped soften the frustration I may have been feeling at being unable to minister as effectively as I felt was necessary, for a variety of real constraints that were out of my control.

[tonynocchi]

I'm willing to bet just about every stake and ward out there is in violation of the 'letter of the law' when it comes to GHB 38.8.31 and most of them don't even know it. It's like the Church wants to hamstring ministering efforts and taking care of members because about 50% of what we do would come to a halt or leaders would run themselves into the ground trying to keep up.

[tonynocchi]

You can even make the case that the system for placing food orders is in violation of GHB 38.3.31 because it sends confirmation emails to food order recipients (who have email addresses outside of the church system) which then discloses temporal needs which is specifically mentioned.

[tonynocchi]

One last thought: In the eternal perspective, what is the 'punishment' for putting information about members in a Google document or spreadsheet in violation of GHB 38.8.31 for the purpose of improving our ability to minister to them and help them progress spiritually?

[lajackson]

In the eternal perspective, what is the 'punishment' for putting information about members in a Google document or spreadsheet in violation of GHB 38.8.31 for the purpose of improving our ability to minister to them and help them progress spiritually?

I am not sure of the eternal "punishment" other than obedience. My concern is when the District Judge subpoenas the notes in a legal proceeding and they become a matter of public record. Personally, I would not want to put out any information I would not want to see on a billboard, in the newspaper, or on the Internet the next morning.

[tonynocchi]

In the eternal perspective, what is the 'punishment' for putting information about members in a Google document or spreadsheet in violation of GHB 38.8.31 for the purpose of improving our ability to minister to them and help them progress spiritually?

I am not sure of the eternal "punishment" other than obedience. My concern is when the District Judge subpoenas the notes in a legal proceeding and they become a matter of public record. Personally, I would not want to put out any information I would not want to see on a billboard, in the newspaper, or on the Internet the next morning.

So let's break this down in one simple example. In my ward, members who have receive orders from the Bishop's Storehouse for the last several years have submitted their orders to the RS president via text or email. Both methods are in violation of GHB 38.8.31. These orders are placed through the church system but the Bishop's Storehouse (which is three hours away), emails the RS/EQ Presidents and a member of the stake high counsel who oversees food distribution for our stake the order information so we can prepare to receive and distribute the food which is also a violation of GHB 38.8.31. Additionally, if a member has a temporal need, and the need is discussed over the phone (voice or text) between say the Bishop and the RS and/or EQ Presidents, this is a violation of GHB 38.8.31 because it is not a "Church-provided" phone "system".

In fact, logging on to LCR at home on my home computer to do Church-related work is a violation of GHB 38.8.31 because of the way browser pages cache information.

The Church provides only one option and it really only applies to the Bishopric and Ward Council and that is the Circles app. However, because our cell phone or home networks aren't "Church-provided internet services" technically this would only be authorized while on the Church-provided Wi-Fi.

I worked network security and information assurance for the DoD, so it's pretty easy for me to just replace the terms "store or share confidential Church information outside of Church-provided applications, systems, or internet services" with "store or share classified information outside of authorized classification enclaves and networks". I was in the military and I moved around quite a bit. I've basically had "Ward Council" callings for the past 20 or so years and in that time I've served in 10 wards or branches and everyone of them used something other than "Church-provided applications, systems, or internet services" because the leadership would have been significantly less effective otherwise.

[russellhltn]

GHB 38.8.31 also contains a contact email address for any data privacy concerns. You're more likely to find traction on that route. We're just fellow users.

[missionarypro1]

I'm surprised that this thread has progressed so far without someone mentioning that this type of data collection already exists by full-time missionaries using the official Preach My Gospel (previously Area Book Planner) app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... t.areabook

This app has different records capabilities depending on the nation it's used in, but in the US there are missionary-created notes on most members going back nearly a decade. Oftentimes, missionary records for current addresses can be more up to date simply because some missionaries reach out to less-active people more frequently than some wards, and afaik there isn't an easy way to submit a correction to the ward clerk through the app. You can see in the play store comments that many ward members and returned missionaries want continued access for a variety of reasons, one of which would be to improve ministering outreach. You also have to remember that missionary phones are loaded with MDM software that (in addition to internet filtering) plays a role in data privacy compliance, though the MDM is not required for use of this app.