EFF Seeks More Info About Student Tracking Practices Beyond Google
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said it will investigate similar data practices of other companies, a day after it filed a complaint with the FTC that Google was tracking, collecting and mining student data without permission (see 1512010068). EFF wants parents,…
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teachers, school administrators and students at least 13 years old with "first-hand knowledge of other cloud-based education services" to fill out a survey to help the privacy group gather more information about such practices, it said in a Wednesday blog post. While Google has said its tools comply with the law and it abides by a pledge not to track students, EFF said in the post the company is "abusing its position of power as a provider of some educational services to profit off of students' data." But Future of Privacy Forum Executive Director Jules Polonetsky said in a statement Tuesday that EFF's complaint doesn't have any merit. He said the Chrome "sync" setting, which EFF says is the heart of the problem, can be controlled by a school administrator or parent and is a general feature. "We don't believe the complaint raises any issues about data use that are restricted by the Student Privacy Pledge," he said. Google is among the forum's top 10 corporate donors, its website said.