GAB’er Page: 1 April 14, 2020

THE GAB’ER
Newsletter of the Greater Albany AppleByters: April, 2020
GAAB is celebrating its 36th year (2019-2020).

The next GAAB Meeting is:

Tuesday, April 14, 2020
7:30 PM at
This will be an online meeting because of the

Coronavirus Pandemic
I will use Zoom to do the meeting and will send the link
Monday, April 13th. You should be able to click on the link
and download the software. I will send instructions with the
link.
GAAB Meeting Agenda
Greetings
Discussion: Topics presented by members and
News from Apple including Mac OS X and iOS UpdatesGAAB Help Desk:
Bring your questions

Zoom Use Skyrockets During Coronavirus Pandemic, Prompting Wave of

Problems for Schools
By Mark Lieberman Education Week April 3, 2020
https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919781&bcid=25919781&rssid=25919771&it

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Erin Honeycutt, the principal of Lamar Elementary School in Meridian, Miss., sets up a "Zoom" class for 1st
through 5th graders to run an art lesson online. Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star via AP

For many K-12 educators, Zoom only entered the lexicon a few weeks ago, as the
coronavirus outbreak shut down schools nationwide. Already, it's taken on a lot of baggage.

Schools across the country are evaluating their

engagement with Zoom, with decisions varying from

place to place. Some districts have discouraged

teachers from using it, or banned it altogether. Others

are taking a more cautious approach, exploring its

potential while sticking with tools they had already

vetted more thoroughly prior to the nationwide

shutdown.

The videoconferencing platform allows teachers to communicate with students and

collaborate with colleagues virtually and in large groups. It's proved enticing in many
workplaces and homes across the country, and the company's CEO last month lifted the 40-
minute conference time limits for its free service to all K-12 schools.

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But the rapid increase of users has also led to increased scrutiny of the privacy and security
limitations that come with using the platform, especially without taking necessary precautions.
The relatively new phenomenon of Zoombombing-in which a hacker infiltrates a chat and
shares offensive or harmful content- has exposed many classrooms and school board
meetings to unwelcome and offensive content.

The company has attracted ire from privacy advocates as well as public officials, including
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and several state attorneys general, who
wrote letters to the Zoom CEO requesting details on information the company stores and
steps it's taken to minimize risks to users. One user filed a class-action lawsuit on Monday
over the company's alleged data- sharing with Facebook.

Zoom has in recent days updated its privacy policy and suspended all engineering efforts on
new products to focus on addressing issues raised by the surge of new users, including
90,000 schools in 20 countries. The company's customer service team has been
overwhelmed by requests for support, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The FBI has even gotten involved, issuing a warning after a hacker infiltrated a
Massachusetts high school Zoom meeting shouting profanities and the teacher's home
address, and another Massachusetts school reported a classroom meeting interrupted by a
person displaying swastika tattoos.

'We Shut It Down Pretty Quick'

Fairfax County public schools in Virginia has existing contracts with Google's education suite
and Blackboard Collaborate, both of which include videoconference platforms. As a result,
the district has not approved Zoom for teachers or staff to use, said Maribeth Luftglass, chief
information officer and assistant superintendent of information technology.

Some teachers started using it anyway amid the chaos of the pandemic. "We shut it down
pretty quick when we found out about it," Luftglass said-though some teachers were
frustrated because they had already gotten comfortable with it.

Without a Zoom contract, the district can't ensure that students' data won't be sold or shared
improperly. Streamlining the number of new tech platforms also reduces the strain on the
district's IT help desk, which has already had to field a few Zoom questions.

In response, Luftglass has been circulating a two- minute video tutorial for Blackboard
Collaborate. "We don't just say, OK, use whatever you want," Luftglass said. "We say, 'We're
happy to train you, here's a quick tutorial, feel free to sign up for a more indepth class if you
want to.'"

Sticking to district-sanctioned platforms could be critical: Law enforcement officials in Orange

County, Fla., are investigating a case of a man who exposed himself after hacking into an
online public school class conducted on Zoom, an application not supported by the district,
according to the Associated Press.

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When it comes to videoconferencing, many educators are starting from scratch. The Sitka
school district, which stretches 14 miles on an island near the water in Alaska, had never had
a need for virtual conferences-all of its schools are within five minutes of each other, said
Mary Wegner, the district's superintendent.

Her district has a subscription to Microsoft Teams, though individual teachers tested other
platforms at first, Wegner said. She reeled them in by hosting a 177- member staff meeting
on Teams during the spring break week before instruction was set to resume.

"That turned out to be a real saving grace for us, because otherwise people would have been
only using Zoom," Wegner said. A recent school board meeting got interrupted by a
Zoombombing instance, and she's wary of the platform after reading media reports of privacy
concerns.

Zoom Responds With Safety Tips

Zoombombing takes place when an uninvited person infiltrates a group video chat, often via a
link that's been shared publicly, and shares offensive content, such as racist imagery,
pornography, and hate speech, as well as some disruptive but inoffensive jokes. Some
instances are part of a coordinated effort among online trolls, including teenagers, trying to
sow chaos, according to reports in the New York Times and Inside Higher Ed.

According to the Times report, in one online chat, "a middle school's class schedule,
including Zoom links for each class, was shared with hundreds of members who stated their
intent to harass the students and their teachers." One 16-year-old hacker told the Times,
"Part of the reason we do it is a lot of teachers give us a lot of work right now."

A blog post on Zoom's website recommends generating new meeting ID numbers for each
new session, and creating "waiting rooms" that allow conference hosts to approve attendees
who request access. Users can also set up two-factor authentication, disable private

chat, and lock meetings when they start, just as you would "your front door."

In at least a few cases, hacking issues have led to schools prohibiting Zoom. Clark County
public schools in Nevada "made the decision to disable access to Zoom out of an abundance
of caution" in response to hacking incidents in virtual classrooms, a district spokesperson
said. The district is "looking at options to strengthen security precautions to potentially reopen
access."

The Conejo Valley Unified School District in California is taking precautions after a school
board meeting was Zoombombed last month. Teachers there have been asked to require
attendees to give permission before sharing their screen; to only share login information with
students and families; and to allow meeting attendees the option to disable chat and file
transfer options.

Zoom also presents logistical challenges some districts have decided to simply avoid. For a
district already set up with Chromebooks, having each person sign up for an individual
account didn't seem feasible, said Rolland Kornblau, director of information technology for the

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El Rancho Unified school district in California. "We really couldn't administer it, it wasn't under
our control," he said.

Still in Widespread Use

Plenty of educators are still using Zoom, though.

The School District of La Crosse in Wisconsin had a prior contract with Google's education
suite and videoconference platform, but teachers got interested in Zoom, prompting the
district's tech team to do a "research dive," said Michael St. Pierre, director of technology.

Teachers liked being able to display two people's screens at the same time, and to save chat
transcripts and audio/video recordings for later use. With Google Hangouts, "they'd have to
copy the chat message before they closed out just to keep a record of it," St. Pierre said.

With help from the member forums of the Consortium for School Networking, St. Pierre
helped kickstart the process for an ongoing statewide evaluation of Zoom for educational use
in Wisconsin. In the meantime, the district has mainly used Zoom for staff-to-staff
interactions, St. Pierre said.

Some of the features Zoom offers can be tricky to navigate for ensuring students' safety.
Many teachers want to take advantage of the Zoom feature that allows for recording
conversations and saving chat transcripts so students can refer to them later.

Linette Attai, CEO of the privacy compliance consulting firm PlayWell, recommends teachers
tell students to keep their cameras off during recorded lectures, and to hold separate,
unrecorded video chats for Q&A sessions.

"Think of this as a camera in the classroom. Don't rush

to change what you would ordinarily do just because you would have the technology," Attai
said.

Recorded videoconferences can also be a safeguard against inappropriate behavior, though.

Kornblau's district is urging educators to record sessions, particularly those between a
teacher and a single student, so they have a record of anything troubling.

The FBI is urging educators who encounter Zoombombing to file a complaint with its Internet
Crime Complaint Center. Attai is advising districts to share protocols for reporting
Zoombombing incidents and other related challenges with instructors before an incident
happens.

Her advice in the meantime: "Remove the person from the participant list, and if you can't,
close the session. Report it immediately to your technology team, and follow their instructions
for how to get back in touch with your students securely as soon as possible to reassure
them and discuss what happened."

Megan Mullaly, a 6th grade teacher at Dartmouth Middle School in Massachusetts, got more
than 1,300 retweets on a Zoom guide for educators she wrote herself, with tips like turning off

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private chats students can join without teachers, and exploring settings like "chime upon
entry" and "mute all." Other tips on preventing Zoombombing are available in guides from the
Consortium for School Networking, the Anti- Defamation League and the Berkeley
Information Security Office.

What's in the Background

Videoconferencing raises other platform-agnostic issues as well. Parents who consent to

their students participating in class on video need to be mindful that other students and the
teacher will be able to see what's in the background, Attai said.

The "Brady Bunch" display of participants in a conference call can be off-putting and anxiety-
inducing for some students. Attai said she's also seen some educators tweeting screengrabs
from video chats with students. Some schools have allowed that practice as long as students
involved signed a media release form, but Attai thinks districts shouldn't even be doing that.

"A media release is to give permission for a picture of a child to publish a story about, 'Here's
who kicked a winning field goal,' not, 'Here's a look at our classroom,'" Attai said. "There's no
educational purpose for that for students."

Districts can embed any videoconferencing platform within a password-protected student

portal, said Scott Gallant, a consultant for Keyed Systems, who works on privacy and data
governance in education.

He recommends that districts identify a single videoconference tool that everyone should use,
and that teachers maintain professional surroundings and behavior while on camera to set an
example for students.

Gallant thinks it's important to keep in mind the pressure that educators and families are
under, not just

to teach and learn but to navigate an unprecedented global health crisis. Videoconference
tools ultimately are a vessel that facilitates connections between people through face-to-face
communication.

"We need to focus more on what we're getting back from those cues from students," he said.

All your devices. One seamless experience.

https://www.apple.com/macos/continuity/

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When you use a Mac, iPad, iPhone, or Apple Watch, you’re able to do incredible things. And
when you use them together, you can do so much more. Make and receive phone calls
without picking up your iPhone. Use your iPad to extend the workspace of your Mac.
Automatically unlock your Mac when you’re wearing your Apple Watch. And copy and paste
images, video, and text from your iPhone or iPad to your nearby Mac, or vice versa.

SidecarExtend your desktop. With iPad.

Sidecar lets you extend your workspace by using your iPad as a second Mac display. Work in
one app while you reference another or view your main canvas on one display while

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spreading out your tools and palettes on the other. You can also mirror the screens so they
both display the same content, making it perfect for sharing exactly what you see with others.

Express your creativity. With Apple Pencil. Sidecar also brings the ease and precision of
Apple Pencil to your favorite creative Mac apps. Use Apple Pencil to design in Illustrator, edit
photos in Affinity Photo, or create 3D models in ZBrush. Simply drag your content to your
iPad to get started. The handy sidebar even puts essential Command, Control, and Shift keys
right at your fingertips.

Continuity Markup and Sketch Draw with your Apple Pencil.

Or finger.

Continuity Markup lets you sign documents, correct papers, or circle important details in
images. Use your Apple Pencil on iPad or your finger on iPhone and see updates live on your
Mac. And Continuity Sketch lets you create a sketch on your iPad or iPhone that
automatically inserts into any document on your Mac.

SMS More ways to get your message across.

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With a Mac and iPhone, you can send and receive SMS text messages — the ones in
green bubbles — right from your Mac. All the messages that appear on your iPhone
appear on your Mac, too, so all your conversations are up to date on all your devices.
And when friends text you — regardless of what phone they have — you can respond
from your Mac or your iPhone, whichever is closest.1 You can also start an SMS or
iMessage conversation on your Mac by clicking a phone number in Safari, Contacts,
Calendar, or Spotlight.

Phone Mac, now answering the call.

Take iPhone calls right on your Mac, Apple Watch, or iPad. You can answer a call or dial a
new one while your iPhone is buried in your backpack or is charging in another room. Just
click or tap to accept the call, and say hello.2

Receiving calls. When a call comes to your iPhone, you can answer the call on your Mac,
Apple Watch, or iPad. You’ll get a notification showing you the caller’s name, number, and
profile picture. You’ll also hear a ringtone — the same ringtone you have for that person on

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your iPhone. Click the notification to answer, and your Mac becomes a speakerphone, so you
can have a phone conversation while you continue what you’re doing.

Making calls. Making a phone call from your Mac is as easy as receiving one. You can click
any phone number you see in Contacts, Calendar, Messages, Spotlight, or Safari to dial a
call. You can even start a call from your FaceTime call history or enter the digits on
your keyboard.

Continuity Camera Scan or shoot right to your Mac.

Use your iPhone to shoot a nearby object or scan a document and have it automatically
appear on your Mac. Just choose Insert a Photo from the File menu, then choose Take Photo
or Scan Documents. Take a photo of something on your desk and instantly see it in your
Pages document. Or scan a receipt, and a straightened version is immediately available in

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the Finder as a PDF. Continuity Camera works in the Finder, Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages,
Keynote, and Numbers. It’s another way iPhone and Mac just click.

Auto UnlockLog in before you even settle in.

Automatically log in to your Mac when you’re wearing your Apple Watch. No password typing
required. Need to take a quick call or step away? Get right back to work when you return.

Handoff Start it here. Finish it there.

Say you start writing an email on your iPhone, but you want to finish it on your Mac. Or you
start writing a report on your iMac, but want to continue on your iPad as you head to your
meeting. Handoff makes it possible. When your Mac, iOS, or iPadOS devices are near each
other, they can automatically pass what you’re doing from one device to another.3 An icon
representing the last app you were using will appear on your second device — in the Dock on
your Mac or iPad or in the App Switcher on your iPhone. Just click or tap to pick up right
where you left off without having to search for the file. Handoff works with Mail, Safari, Notes,
Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, and Contacts. And app
developers can easily build Handoff into their apps.

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Universal Clipboard Copy on one device. Paste on another.

Copy images, video, or text from an app on your iPhone or iPad. Then paste into another app
on your nearby Mac — or vice versa. There are no extra steps. Just copy and paste as you
normally do. Find a great recipe while browsing on your Mac? Paste the ingredients right to
the grocery list on your iPhone or iPad. You can even copy and paste entire files between
two Mac systems.

AirDrop Sharing files has never been easier.

AirDrop makes sharing files between Mac and iOS or iPadOS devices simple. With just a few
clicks on your Mac, you can take a file from any folder and use AirDrop to send it to a nearby
Mac, iPhone, or iPad. And since AirDrop is peer to peer, it works without a Wi-Fi network. It’s
perfect for, say, sharing a document with a coworker in the next room or sending a
presentation to a client across the table. You can use AirDrop to send files from the Share
menu in your apps or from the Finder. Recipients will receive a notification, which they can
simply click or tap to download the file.

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Apple Pay The simplest and safest way to pay online.

It’s easy to pay when shopping on the web using Apple Pay in Safari. Just look for Apple Pay
on your favorite shopping sites, then complete your purchase with Face ID or Touch ID on
your iPhone or iPad. You can also use Touch ID on MacBook Pro or MacBook Air or
double-click the side button on your Apple Watch. Your credit card details are never shared
when you use Apple Pay, and your transactions are protected with industry-leading security.

Instant Hotspot Just like that, you’re online

No Wi-Fi? No problem. With Instant Hotspot, your Mac can remotely activate the Personal
Hotspot on your iPhone when they are near each other.4 Simply select your iPhone from the
Wi-Fi menu on your Mac and you’ll be online in seconds. You can even leave your iPhone in
your pocket or bag. When connected to your Personal Hotspot, your Mac displays the signal
strength and battery life of your iPhone at the top of the Wi-Fi menu. After you finish
browsing, the hotspot automatically deactivates to preserve battery life. The next time you
want to get online and there’s no Wi-Fi, your Mac will ask you if you want to use your hotspot
again. Just click OK to get online.

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