In a very positive development, President Obama earlier today proposed The Student Digital Privacy Act. According to The New York Times, the Act would "prohibit technology firms from profiting from information
collected in schools as teachers adopt tablets, online services and
Internet-connected software".
During the President's speech today at the FTC, he stated, "Our children are meeting and growing up in cyberspace", and "here at the
FTC, you’ve pushed back on companies and apps that collect information
on our kids without permission"... and "we need our kids privacy protected."
The President's speech appears to indicate that he is aware that Google and others have abused access to personal student data. For example, in March of 2013, Google admitted to Education Week that it was data mining student emails for advertising purposes. Soon after this was uncovered, a media firestorm erupted and subsequently Google allegedly changed its practices. Therefore, when the President mentioned, "[b]ut we’ve already seen some instances where some companies use
educational technologies to collect student data for commercial
purposes, like targeted advertising" was he referring to Google?
President Obama stated, "I want to encourage every company that provides these
technologies to our schools to join this effort. It’s the right thing
to do. And if you don’t join this effort, then we intend to make sure
that those schools and those parents know you haven’t joined this
effort.
So, this mission, protecting our information and privacy in the
Information Age, this should not be a partisan issue. This should be
something that unites all of us as Americans."
I applaud the President and his team for recognizing the importance of student digital privacy and his willingness to make the issue an important part of his legislative agenda during his final two years in office. As a parent, I want my children to be able to utilize the most advanced digital learning tools available. However, our kids should not have to compromise their personal privacy and/or safety to utilize new digital technologies.
While I am optimistic about the opportunity for stronger student privacy protections to become law, I know there is a lot of work ahead. Therefore, it is imperative for students, parents, teachers, school administrators, privacy advocates, and education technology vendors to work with regulators, lawmakers, and the President to enact a thoughtful and forward thinking bill into law.
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