Shining a Light on Digital Tracking in Education - From crisis to opportunity | #Privacy #digcit  | 21st Century Learning and Teaching | Scoop.it

A third of U.S. middle and high school students use mobile devices issued by their schools. Many others use their own devices for their schoolwork, using software such as the widely adopted Google Apps for Education. If you have children in school, chances are good that people and organizations you don’t know are collecting massive quantities of information about your children and using this information for purposes you know nothing about.

 

We don’t know much about how children’s information is used, or by whom, or for what purpose

 

Once data is collected and the company that collected it uses it for its stated purpose, there is little in law or policy that prevents the company from also using the information for other purposes, such as “product development.” It may also sell the information to others for their use or archive it for possible later use. Many bills bearing on student privacyhave been introduced in the past several years in Congress and state legislatures, and several of them have been enacted into law. However, protection of student privacy remains limited.

Our recent report explores how corporate entities use their involvement with schools to gather student data and how those data may be used for marketing and other non-school-related purposes. Although most people probably know that digital marketers targetand track children on the devices they use, many would be surprised to learn that schools now serve both as a portal to and reinforcer of digital marketing messages to children. In so doing, they lend companies that collect, sell, analyze, and buy data both enhanced credibility and access to vast amounts of education-related data.

 

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

 

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/privacy-in-the-digital-world-shouldnt-we-talk-about-it/