Report: School-Issued Devices Spying on Kids



By Shane Vander Hart - Posted at Truth in American Education:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation released a report in April that is a must read for those who are concerned about student privacy. In a nutshell, they found these devices are spying on kids who use them, and their parents are blissfully unaware.

From the report‘s executive summary:

Student laptops and educational services are often available for a steeply reduced price, and are sometimes even free. However, they come with real costs and unresolved ethical questions thrroughout EFF’s investigation over the past two years, we have found that educational technology services often collect far more information on kids than is necessary and store this information indefinitely. This privacy-implicating information goes beyond personally identifying information (PII) like name and date of birth, and can include browsing history, search terms, location data, contact lists, and behavioral information. Some programs upload this student data to the cloud automatically and by default. All of this often happens without the awareness or consent of students and their families.

Here are some of the concerns they found after their two-year study of educational tech: ...

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