Univeristy of California needs to offer encryption

"What last year's revelations showed us was irrefutable evidence that unencrypted communications on the internet are no longer safe. Any communications should be encrypted by default." - Edward Snowden (interview in The Guardian, July 17 2014)
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The University of California needs to offer encryption.  The bConnected services offered to students, faculty and staff - bMail, bCal and BDrive - are implementations of Google-based services.  Google built a working relationship with the NSA, allowing the surveillance agency access to the data and communications of Google's users.  While Google has been recently claiming to stand for greater privacy and is working towards offering encryption for its users, there is no mention of plans to offer encryption at the bConnected website - such a decision would need to be made by the UC.  The bConnect website warns that "bMail is not encrypted and should not be used for sensitive communications."

UC students, faculty and staff should demand that the UC encrypt the services offered through bConnect.  Friends, family and associates of people affiliated with the UC would also have general interest the encryption of bConnect services.  There is a general public benefit for bConnect encryption, as the UC is a public university.

To reach the UC administration, contact information is available at: www.ucop.edu and regents.universityofcalifornia.edu
Contact information for the Chancellor of UC Berkeley is at: chancellor.berkeley.edu