Mario Trujillo and Adam Schwartz write: Comprehensive data privacy legislation is the best way to hold tech companies accountable in our surveillance age, including for harm they do to chi ldren. Well-written privacy legislation has the added benefit of being constitutional—unlike the flurry of laws that restrict content behind age verification requirements that courts have…
Category: Youth & Schools
AI is a serious threat to student privacy
Daniel Buck of Thomas B. Fordham Institute writes: The bulk of commentary and school district policy relating to AI and education focuses almost exclusively on questions regarding cheating. What does it mean for a student—or an education columnist, for that matter—if a chatbot can write a ten-page essay in a matter of seconds? How can…
Students Worry School Surveillance Could Identify Abortion Searches, ACLU Says
Priya Anand reports: About one in five students are worried that surveillance technology used by their schools could flag searches for reproductive health care or gender-affirming care from their computers, according to a report published by the American Civil Liberties Union Tuesday. Startups that sell technology to help schools monitor what students do online saw a boom in…
NY Bans Face Recognition in Schools, Allows Other Biometrics
Zach Williams reports: New York state is banning facial recognition software in schools while giving local districts discretion to use other cutting-edge technology criticized by civil rights groups. The State Education Department announced the ban Wednesday following years of controversy over allowing schools to collect biometrics like facial features, fingerprints, gaits, and voices for a…