Technology in Schools
As technology has evolved, so has its uses in different industries. In this post, I'm going to be taking a look at how schools use technology, and the privacy implications behind it.
Most people have either heard about or used Google Classroom, a GSuite product used for teaching and managing classes. As stated by Google themselves: "Classroom helps students and teachers organize assignments, boost collaboration, and foster better communication." Google classroom seems harmless on its own, until you remember who owns it.
Now, many organizations and groups have advocated for student privacy. Documents and initiatives such as the Student Privacy Pledge exist, and are great, but I would argue they aren't enough. The student privacy pledge covers most of the common privacy killers (e.g. selling data), but what it doesn't cover is the storing of data. Google's retension policy states that there is a potential that any data can exist for the lifetime of your Google account, not to mention the backups, and the data they use internally!
I have been working on a potential replacement of all these apps for a month or so now, and I hope to make it public soon, once the time is right.
Sources Cited
- "Classroom: Manage Teaching and Learning | Google for Education." Google For Education, Google, edu.google.com/products/classroom/.
- "Pledge to Parents & Students." Privacy Pledge – Pledge to Parents & Students, Future of Privacy Forum and The Software & Information Industry Association, 1 Jan. 2015, studentprivacypledge.org/privacy-pledge/.
- "How Google Retains Data We Collect – Privacy & Terms." Google, Google, policies.google.com/technologies/retention.