Tyler Park reports: Protections for student data privacy took an important step forward this summer when the Student Data Privacy Consortium (SDPC) released the first model National Data Privacy Agreement (NDPA) for school districts to use with their technology service providers. Ever since education technology (edtech) emerged as a key tool in classrooms, both schools and edtech companies have…
Category: Youth & Schools
Rutherford Institute Issues ‘Opt Out’ Letter for Families to Preserve Privacy Rights at Home in the Presence of Virtual Classroom Surveillance
The Rutherford Institute has issued a precautionary “opt out” letter as a means by which families whose children are taking part in remote learning / virtual classes might assert their Fourth Amendment privacy rights and guard against intrusive government surveillance posed by remote learning technologies. The Institute released its model “Parental Reservation of Rights – Remote…
Coronavirus Schools Are Buying Up Surveillance Technology to Fight COVID-19
Colin Lecher reports: Fayette County Public Schools, a 24-school district in Georgia, reopened its classroom doors last month. As at many schools around the country, officials in Fayette have concerns about safely bringing students back to school amid a pandemic—and they’re turning to surveillance technology for help. …. But is this surveillance technology useful at preventing…
Proctoring Apps Subject Students to Unnecessary Surveillance
Jason Kelley and Lindsay Oliver of EFF recently wrote: With COVID-19 forcing millions of teachers and students to rethink in-person schooling, this moment is ripe for an innovation in learning. Unfortunately, many schools have simply substituted surveillance technology for real transformation. The use of proctoring apps—privacy-invasive software products that “watch” students as they take tests or…