Sara Jodka writes: … Smart toys first sparked interest in 2015 when Hello Barbie a connected-smart doll was introduced. Hello Barbie came equipped with a microphone, voice recognition software and artificial intelligence that allowed a call-and-response function between the child user and the doll (think how Siri works). The backlash and hacking concerns loomed so…
Category: Youth & Schools
Company to collect brain wave data on 1.2 mil students in the classroom
Paige Rogers reports: “Turning massive amounts of personal data about public school students to a private corporation without any public input is profoundly disturbing and irresponsible.” ~Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Data-mining is the new gold rush, with student data (which is sometimes referred to as human capital) forming the new…
Body searches of 900 Georgia students by sheriff’s office leads to $3 million settlement
Susan Hogan reports: In April, law enforcement from Georgia’s Worth County descended on a high school and, without a warrant, conducted body searches on an estimated 900 students, touching some students’ genitals and breasts. They said they were searching for drugs. They found none. A class-action federal lawsuit soon followed, and the sheriff and two deputies were…
NYC Parent files FERPA complaint to US Department of Education on DOE disclosures to charter schools
On Monday, Nov. 6, Johanna Garcia, President of the Community Education Council in District 6 and a public school parent, filed a FERPA complaint with the US Department of Education, challenging the right of the NYC Department of Education to release her child’s personal information to charter schools without her consent, for the purpose of…