dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Jim Grace <jimgrace@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Lars and Jason,

Good idea, and good questions about security.

One way to approach IP address security is to not record them anywhere (and make sure the central server to which the data is sent does not keep any log of them.) If the central server doesn't know the IP addresses, they can't be divulged to any third party.

A very different approach to openness and security is taken by the optional OpenMRS "Atlas module". This opt-in module allows an OpenMRS installation to provide information that is available in a public OpenMRS "atlas" of implementations. The atlas can facilitate interactions between OpenMRS community members, including prospective members, and it also serves as publicity for OpenMRS as well as the implementers. I'll leave it for others to say whether DHIS2 administrators would feel comfortable or even welcome this kind of public information for their implementations. See http://openmrs.org/atlas/ for the OpenMRS atlas itself, and https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/docs/Atlas+Module+User+Guide for the atlas module user guide.

Cheers,
Jim

On Jun 28, 2013, at 9:22 AM, Jason Pickering <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Lars,
> 
> Sounds interesting. Wish I would have been there for the discussion. Sounds like it might be possible,  assuming the process and data is transparent, and allow for an option to "opt-out" of collection of such data. 
> 
> Having said that, I think we should be exceedingly careful. I assume that the data would be beamed back to a central server someplace. Who would control that server? Who would have access to the "sensitive" data like IP addresses of the servers, i.e. the data which would not be publicly disclosed? Given recent revelations in the news, how would possible data requests from third parties be handled (such as a list of IP addresses for where DHIS2 is used)?
> 
> Regards,
> Jason
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 10:07 PM, Lars Helge Øverland <larshelge@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> during the Uganda workshop last month we had an interesting suggestion from one of the participants.
> 
> The idea is to let DHIS submit anonymous, non-sensitive data to a central system in order to gather basic statistics related to usage. The data sent would include:
> 
> - A random, anonymous system identifier
> - DHIS 2 version
> - Java server version
> - Operating system and version
> 
> Then we could make an optional feature for "activating" or "registering" your DHIS instance, where you could optionally inform about:
> 
> - System contact person
> - System description
> 
> It would be quite useful and interesting to know things like:
> 
> - How many DHIS instances there are out there
> - How fast are new DHIS versions adopted
> - What is the dominant server operating system/environment
> 
> 
> This info would of course be disclosed only in aggregate form.
> 
> What do people think about this? Any strong objections?
> 
> 
> best regards,
> 
> Lars
> 
> 
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