Most people know that Google mines user data for information that can help it improve advertising and search results, but they may not realize that an enormous amount of that personal information is coming from students in kindergarten through the 12th grade, according to the digital rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
This month, EFF filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that Google is violating the “K-12 School Service Provider Pledge to Safeguard Student Privacy” that it signed in January by spying on as many as 40 million students, teachers and administrators who use the company’s Chromebook laptops.
“Parents are very concerned about their children’s privacy and do not want their personal information data-mined or used for targeted advertising,” Leonie Haimson, co-chair of Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, told Truthdig. “The FTC complaint against Google reinforces our conviction that far stronger laws and enforcement mechanisms are necessary to protect students from these sorts of harmful practices.”
According to the complaint, Google is tracking students with Chrome Sync, a feature of the Chrome Web browser that allows the sharing of bookmarks, browser histories and other data between computers that use the feature. Google is also monitoring students logged into educational Google accounts.
— source truthdig.com
https://www.eff.org/document/ftc-complaint-google-education