Is Google tracking your kids’ data? Should it?

The use of children's data has struck a chord with privacy advocates as technology companies weigh consumer rights with benefits of data collection.

|
Jeff Chiu/AP
A man walks past a building on the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif., Nov. 12. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintaining that Google has been tracking students' online activities.

Google has been tracking children’s personal information on their devices, even after the technology company signed a pledge specifically stating that it would not do so, according to a complaint filed Tuesday by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Google's use of children's data is just one component in a larger discussion of how to define consumer rights in data collection and what level of responsibility technology companies should bear in protecting their data. The use of children's data has struck a particular chord because children are less likely to understand the implications of the personal information they reveal online.

The complaint is part of a broader “Spying on Students” campaign, which the EFF launched to raise awareness about the privacy risks associated with technology in schools.

Google is one of more than 200 companies that have signed the Student Privacy Pledge, a document that holds companies legally accountable for maintaining student privacy and preventing the unauthorized sale or misuse of their data. But the complaint that the EFF filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) states that Google went against its stated promise.

“Despite publicly promising not to, Google mines students’ browsing data and other information, and uses it for the company’s own purposes. Making such promises and failing to live up to them is a violation of FTC rules against unfair and deceptive business practices,” EFF Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo said in a statement.

The data collected includes students’ browsing history and searches, YouTube videos, and password information.

Google collected this information using the “Sync” feature in the Chrome browser, the default browser of the popular Chromebooks used by many schools. The EFF complaint also maintains that Google was also able to collect student information by tracking students in their Google for Education accounts, and that this information could be shared with third parties using administrative settings.

“We commend schools for bringing technology into the classroom. Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education have enormous benefits for teaching and preparing students for the future. But devices and cloud services used in schools must, without compromise or loopholes, protect student privacy,” EFF Staff Attorney Sophia Cope said.

Google told the EFF that they would soon disable the Sync setting on distributed Chromebooks. Still, Google maintains that they are not doing anything wrong by collecting students’ data.

"Our services enable students everywhere to learn and keep their information private and secure," Google said in a statement.

As global interest in internet privacy has grown, the company regularly reaffirms its interest in maintaining the security of users’ personal information, but the EFF complaint is not the first to suggest less-than-ideal business practices at Google.

In 2012, Google paid a $22.5 million fine after the FTC concluded the technology company had created a loophole that allowed its suite of digital-advertising products to track users of Apple's Safari web browser.

This report contains material from the Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Is Google tracking your kids’ data? Should it?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2015/1202/Is-Google-tracking-your-kids-data-Should-it
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe