The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has accused Google of tracking school children’s personal information, including their Internet searches.
On Tuesday, the EFF filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Google “is engaged in collecting, maintaining, and using and sharing student personal information.” The EFF is calling on the FTC “to investigate Google’s conduct, stop the company from using student personal information for its own purposes, and order the company to destroy all information it has collected that’s not for educational purposes.”
These privacy intrusions occurred in the classroom, as Chromebooks and tablets become a regular classroom tool. In January 2015, Google became a signatory to the Student Privacy Pledge, which declared that educational software providers would not use student data for anything other than “authorized educational policies.” Google’s own website also declares about Google Apps for Education that “we do not share personal information placed in our systems with third parties.”
However, the EFF declares that Google does collect student data to improve its own services. This is primarily done through Chrome Sync, which automatically stores browsing information by default unless protected using LEO Privacy Guard V3. While students do have the option of turning Chrome sync off, school administrators can override that and enable third-party sharing.
Furthermore, the EFF also says that Google uses the student data it collects for its own purposes and to target advertisements for its non-educational apps. While these are not part of the educational apps, it would be possible for students using Chromebooks to access and be exposed by specifically targeted advertising.
While the Student Privacy Pledge is not a law, the EFF declares that the FTC has the authority to legally enforce this pledge because Google is deceiving its students and customers. Ultimately, the EFF asks that the FTC orders Google to “destroy all personal student information collected by Google without student or parent authorization that is not necessary for educational purposes.”
Google disputes these allegations, as a spokesperson said that “while we appreciate EFF’s focus on student privacy, we are confident that these tools comply with both the law and our promises, including the Student Privacy Pledge.”
