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Subject: Re: [office-comment] Change Tracking issue
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
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