[IAEP] [UKids] "Google accused of tracking school kids after it promised not to"
Anish Mangal
anishmg at umich.edu
Wed Dec 2 23:01:21 EST 2015
On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 9:16 AM, James Cameron <quozl at laptop.org> wrote:
> Anish, perhaps remove "educationally focused" as a description of
> companies doing this. Why would only educationally focused companies
> do it?
>
>
I didn't imply that. What I wanted to say was educationally focused
companies are doing this "as well", which is relevant to this email list
(iaep, unleashkids). The links you post below are representative of a
larger issue.
> See for example;
>
>
> http://theconversation.com/junk-food-advertisers-put-profits-before-childrens-health-and-we-let-them-51250
>
> We tried self-regulation. What happened was we let people suffer when
> market forces are allowed to substitute for regulation and law.
>
> Bring back choice by the people;
>
>
> http://theconversation.com/democracy-that-bows-down-to-the-market-is-a-false-compromise-49135
>
> At heart, the idea of a company; a robotic organisation that can
> declare limited liability, now seems less ethical than full liability.
>
> This discussion thread seems mostly wasted time. Without fixing the
> underlying causes, the bugs will come back.
>
>
I found it quite enlightening, the recent fire tablet thread. Here's a
sampling of comments (w/o attribution)
*"Well, in spite of the ads, I am enjoying my tablet""on flights to and
from Texas I watched a few movies""I'm enjoying mine for what it is. The
free 6-month Washington Post subscription alone is a $51 value.""Tablets,
on the other hand, are immediately recognized as status objects, and
everyone likes it when they're new.""We're not interested in computer
science, coding, or a constructivist learning model.""I had the option of
paying $15 more per tablet to avoid ads, but I didn't consider that an
essential feature so I didn't pay""The "special offers" appear only on the
startup screen, no where else. Not a big deal,"*
It seems the kool-aid has been drunk. Why blame the companies only!
> On Thu, Dec 03, 2015 at 08:55:29AM +0530, Anish Mangal wrote:
> > You can be sure that if google is doing it, a large number of smaller
> more
> > educationally focused companies are in this as well. It is perhaps not
> worth
> > EFFs time to go after them individually.
> >
> > This just highlights the risks of living your life on the cloud, and why
> > increasingly, movements like [1]http://redecentralize.org/ are gathering
> > momentum. It maybe okay for adults, but with children, taking their
> decisions
> > for them with huge future implications for their lives - a lot more
> thought
> > needs to go in (eg: the recent amazon fire tablet thread)
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 8:20 AM, Adam Holt <[2]holt at laptop.org> wrote:
> >
> > ReCode has a useful summary of today's back+forth accusations down
> below.
> >
> > But younger students may want to understand first, who invited the
> > advertising industry into the classroom in the 1st place:
> >
> > [3]https://epic.org/privacy/student/
> > [4]http://www.studentprivacymatters.org
> > [5]https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/studentprivacy
> > [6]https://washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/06/
> > why-a-student-privacy-bill-of-rights-is-desperately-needed/
> >
> > On Dec 2, 2015 8:32 PM, "Adam Holt" <[7]holt at laptop.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > Google goes for the Trump defense, denying everything:
> > >
> > > [8]http://googleforeducation.blogspot.com/2015/12/
> > the-facts-about-student-data-privacy-in.html
> > >
> > > EFF clarifies Google’s Student Tracking Isn’t Limited to Chrome
> Sync:
> > >
> > > [9]https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/
> > googles-student-tracking-isnt-limited-chrome-sync
> >
> > ReCode Summary Excerpt:
> >
> > 'The EFF, in its Wednesday post, admits that Sync can be a useful
> service,
> > but stresses that students shouldn’t be “guinea pigs in Google’s
> efforts to
> > improve its products” without the explicit approval of their parents.
> >
> > “Google is creating this little army of loyal users. These kids are
> being
> > conditioned to give up their personal data in order to go online,”
> said
> > Cope, the EFF lawyer. “There’s just a lot of opaqueness of what data
> > they’re collecting and how they’re using it.”
> >
> > More than 200 companies have signed the Student Privacy Pledge,
> including
> > Apple and Microsoft. (Google actually initially declined to sign the
> > pledge, citing its existing privacy rules, [10]but then changed
> course a
> > week later.)
> >
> > A rep for the FTC confirmed that the agency had received the EFF
> complaint,
> > but declined to comment further.
> >
> > Google was [11]forced to pay a $22.5 million fine to the FTC in
> 2012 to
> > settle charges for tracking Apple iPhone users.
> >
> > Tech companies have all benefited from a White House initiative to
> prepare
> > students for the 21st century. Google may be the biggest
> beneficiary; while
> > its affordable Chromebooks have not seen wide consumer traction,
> they’ve
> > taken off in schools. IDC estimates that sales of the devices grew
> by 310
> > percent last year, surpassing sales from Microsoft and Apple.'
> >
> > In Full:
> > [12]http://recode.net/2015/12/02/
> > google-no-were-not-snooping-on-students-with-our-chromebooks-apps/
> >
> > > On Dec 2, 2015 1:00 PM, "Adam Holt" <[13]holt at laptop.org> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> On Dec 2, 2015 11:02 AM, "Jerry Vonau" <[14]jvonau3 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > That was one of the fears I had about enabling sugar's
> webservices[1].
> > I was refusing to implement that functionality in the AU images as
> each
> > territory in AU has a different education department with different
> rules,
> > but was available in the SL testing images that were being produced
> by
> > myself the time. Now I have to ask the question has SugarLabs or
> other
> > deployments such as OneEducation signed the "Student Privacy
> Pledge"? Even
> > as a non-profit I would still consider them a company just protected
> by a
> > corporate shield.
> > >>
> > >> Careful!
> > >>
> > >> When [15]http://studentprivacypledge.org appears to be a shill
> quickly
> > created by an advertising industry/Doubleclick/AOL alum, funded by
> the
> > likes of Axciom ([16]http://youtu.be/F7P2ViCRObs !) whose business
> models
> > inherently compel "astroturf" DC lobbying to avoid student privacy
> > practices with teeth.
> > >>
> > >> Very clever name they chose ("Future of Privacy") as if DC
> lobbyists
> > will have the final word on our mental-spiritual futures? Even if
> Amazon
> > still refuses to sign the Student Privacy Pledge 14 months later,
> that they
> > and Google helped fund, comical if it weren't real peoples lives
> they were
> > playing with?
> > >>
> > >> At least the presumptuous "Future of Privacy" is honest enough to
> > outline at [17]https://fpf.org/about/ that they are DC lobbyists for
> > business as usual ("self-regulation") rather than informed
> student/family
> > consent. Yet more unreadable disclaimers, rather than tight
> clarity, and
> > clean recourse with teeth.
> > >>
> > >> With so much DC lobbying money sloshing around ([18]
> https://fpf.org/
> > about/supporters/) they will certainly be a player! Driving home
> Silicon
> > Valley's predominant
> "our-antiprivacy-is-so-much-better-than-the-NSA's"
> > mindset into 2016's elections, and far beyond?
> > >>
> > >> Ourselves, we should start with Global Educators, who _genuinely_
> care
> > about student/community autonomy, the environment, and
> self-determination
> > as a life trajectory. Beyond DC entrapment and the latest Wall
> Street
> > earnings target --- here instead are folks with Actual Backbones,
> opening
> > avenues of HOPE not fatalism:
> > >>
> > >> [19]http://studentdataprinciples.org
> > >> [20]
> https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/child-rights
> > >> [21]https://www.eff.org/issues/student-privacy
> > >> [22]http://childrenandbusiness.org
> > >>
> > >> > Just my nickel's worth,
> > >> >
> > >> > Jerry
> > >> >
> > >> > 1. [23]https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Web_Services
> > >> >
> > >> > On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 9:33 AM, Adam Holt <[24]holt at laptop.org>
> wrote:
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Electronic Frontier Foundation says Google collects data from
> > students and uses it to target ads and improve its products.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> "The digital rights group said Google’s use of the data,
> collected
> > through its Google for Education program, puts the company in breach
> of
> > Section 5 of the Federal Communications Act and asked the Federal
> Trade
> > Commission to investigate.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Despite publicly promising not to, Google mines students’
> browsing
> > data and other information, and uses it for the company’s own
> purposes,”
> > the EFF said..."
> > >> >>
> > >> >> "Last month, Google said more than 50 million students and
> teachers
> > around the globe were using Google Apps for Education, along with 10
> > million Chromebooks. The Google-powered laptops are “the best-selling
> > device in U.S. K-12 schools,” according to Google.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> But the EFF has some issues with the way Google delivers those
> > services. It says the company records everything students do while
> they’re
> > logged into their Google accounts, regardless of the device or
> browser
> > they’re using, including their search history, the search results
> they
> > click on and the videos they watch on YouTube.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Google aggregates and anonymizes the data collected through its
> > education services, the EFF said, but not when the students are
> using other
> > Google services. And it argues that truly anonymizing data is
> “difficult to
> > the point of being impossible,” especially when it’s tied to
> identifiable
> > accounts at the time of collection.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Google’s practices “fly in the face of commitments made when it
> > signed the Student Privacy Pledge,” the EFF said, referring to a
> document
> > signed by 200 companies including Google, Microsoft and Apple..."
> > >> >>
> > >> >> [25]http://www.pcworld.com/article/3011076/privacy/
> > google-accused-of-tracking-school-kids-after-it-promised-not-to.html
> > >> >>
> > >> >> --
> > >> >> Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ [26]
> http://unleashkids.org
> > !
> > >> >> ---
> > >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the
> Google
> > Groups "Unleash Kids" group.
> > >> >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from
> it,
> > send an email to [27]unleashkids+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> > >> >> For more options, visit [28]https://groups.google.com/d/optout
> .
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > --
> > >> > Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ [29]
> http://unleashkids.org !
> > >> > ---
> > >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the
> Google
> > Groups "Unleash Kids" group.
> > >> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from
> it, send
> > an email to [30]unleashkids+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> > >> > For more options, visit [31]https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> >
> > --
> > Unsung Heroes of OLPC, interviewed live @ [32]http://unleashkids.org
> !
> > ---
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups
> > "Unleash Kids" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
> send an
> > email to [33]unleashkids+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com.
> > For more options, visit [34]https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
> >
> > References:
> >
> > [1] http://redecentralize.org/
> > [2] mailto:holt at laptop.org
> > [3] https://epic.org/privacy/student/
> > [4] http://www.studentprivacymatters.org/
> > [5] https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/research/studentprivacy
> > [6]
> https://washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/06/why-a-student-privacy-bill-of-rights-is-desperately-needed/
> > [7] mailto:holt at laptop.org
> > [8]
> http://googleforeducation.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-facts-about-student-data-privacy-in.html
> > [9]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/googles-student-tracking-isnt-limited-chrome-sync
> > [10]
> http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/20/google-changes-course-signs-student-data-privacy-pledge/
> > [11]
> http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443404004577579232818727246
> > [12]
> http://recode.net/2015/12/02/google-no-were-not-snooping-on-students-with-our-chromebooks-apps/
> > [13] mailto:holt at laptop.org
> > [14] mailto:jvonau3 at gmail.com
> > [15] http://studentprivacypledge.org/
> > [16] http://youtu.be/F7P2ViCRObs
> > [17] https://fpf.org/about/
> > [18] https://fpf.org/about/supporters/
> > [19] http://studentdataprinciples.org/
> > [20] https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/child-rights
> > [21] https://www.eff.org/issues/student-privacy
> > [22] http://childrenandbusiness.org/
> > [23] https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Web_Services
> > [24] mailto:holt at laptop.org
> > [25]
> http://www.pcworld.com/article/3011076/privacy/google-accused-of-tracking-school-kids-after-it-promised-not-to.html
> > [26] http://unleashkids.org/
> > [27] mailto:unleashkids%2Bunsubscribe at googlegroups.com
> > [28] https://groups.google.com/d/optout
> > [29] http://unleashkids.org/
> > [30] mailto:unleashkids%2Bunsubscribe at googlegroups.com
> > [31] https://groups.google.com/d/optout
> > [32] http://unleashkids.org/
> > [33] mailto:unleashkids+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
> > [34] https://groups.google.com/d/optout
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> > IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>
> --
> James Cameron
> http://quozl.netrek.org/
>
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