May
2022
Digital Literacy for St. Cloud State University
By Richard Chang 04/17/17
according to a new report from the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), “Spying on Students: School-Issued Devices and Student Privacy”
shows that state and federal laws, as well as industry self-regulation, have failed to keep up with a growing education technology industry.
One-third of all K–12 students in the United States use school-issued devices running software and apps that collect far more information on kids than is necessary.
Resource-poor school districts can receive these tools at deeply discounted prices or for free, as tech companies seek a slice of the $8 billion ed tech industry. But there’s a real, devastating cost — the tracking, cataloging and exploitation of data about children as young as 5 years old.
Our report shows that the surveillance culture begins in grade school, which threatens to normalize the next generation to a digital world in which users hand over data without question in return for free services
EFF surveyed more than 1,000 stakeholders across the country, including students, parents, teachers and school administrators, and reviewed 152 ed tech privacy policies.
“Spying on Students” provides comprehensive recommendations for parents, teachers, school administrators and tech companies to improve the protection of student privacy. Asking the right questions, negotiating for contracts that limit or ban data collection, offering families the right to opt out, and making digital literacy and privacy part of the school curriculum are just a few of the 70-plus recommendations for protecting student privacy contained in the report.
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more on students and privacy
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=student+privacy
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy+government
a new report from the nonprofit Future of Privacy Forum, which analyzed recent research about young adults from the U.S., China, Germany and Japan.
a study from Indiana University detailed the fears college students have about and the ways they adapt to the fact that they may be photographed at any moment by friends, classmates or even strangers.
Another worry described in the Future of Privacy Forum report is about a type of digital harassment known as “doxxing,”
Many students are loath to share biometric information with colleges and are wary about tools like facial recognition software.
Your weekly reminder that Oracle’s PeopleSoft shapes vast aspects of the lives of faculty, students and staff in universities in many countries around the world… https://t.co/06Ajvyc7um
— Kris Olds (@GlobalHigherEd) February 18, 2021
https://theintercept.com/2021/02/18/oracle-china-police-surveillance/
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more on Promethean and student data privacy
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=promethean
Russia-linked spyware found on school laptops given to children by government from r/worldnews
Upon unboxing and preparing them, it was discovered that a number of the laptops were infected with a self-propagating network worm,” one teacher reportedly wrote
Laptops provided to schools in order to support vulnerable children learning from home during the coronavirus pandemic have been found to contain viruses.
Teachers from a Bradford school shared details about suspicious files they found on the machines which appeared to be trying to contact Russian servers, the BBC reported.
The government has sent schools over 800,000 laptops in order to help poorer children get the support they need, but have been roundly criticised about both the quality of the laptops and the time it takes to receive them.
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more on student data privacy and China in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/10/31/students-data-privacy/
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A financial link between a virtual classroom platform and the University of California system is raising eyebrows
Instructure has made it clear through their own language that they view the student data they aggregated as one of their chief assets, although they have also insisted that they do not use that data improperly. My note: “improperly” is relative and requires defining.
Yet an article published in the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology, titled “Transparency and the Marketplace for Student Data,” pointed out that there is “an overall lack of transparency in the student information commercial marketplace and an absence of law to protect student information.” As such, some students at the University of California are concerned that — despite reassurances to the contrary — their institution’s new financial relationship with Thoma Bravo will mean their personal data can be sold or otherwise misused.
The students’ concerns over surveillance and privacy are not unwarranted. Previously, the University of California used military surveillance technology to help quell the grad student strikes at UC Santa Cruz and other campuses
Between the creation of a social rating system and street cameras with facial recognition capabilities, technology reports coming out of China have raised serious concerns for privacy advocates. These concerns are only heightened as Chinese investors turn their attention to the United States education technology space acquiring companies with millions of public school users.
A particularly notable deal this year centers on Edmodo, a cross between a social networking platform and a learning management system for schools that boasts having upwards of 90 million users. Net Dragon, a Chinese gaming company that is building a significant education division, bought Edmodo for a combination of cash and equity valued at $137.5 million earlier this month.
Edmodo began shifting to an advertising model last year, after years of struggling to generate revenue. This has left critics wondering why the Chinese firm chose to acquire Edmodo at such a price, some have gone as far as to call the move a data grab.
as data becomes a tool that governments such as Russia and China could use to influence voting systems or induce citizens into espionage, more legislators are turning their attention to the acquisitions of early-stage technology startups.
NetDragon officials, however, say they have no interest in these types of activities. Their main goal in acquiring United States edtech companies lies in building profitability, says Pep So, NetDragon’s Director of Corporate Development.
In 2015, the firm acquired the education technology platform, Promethean, a company that creates interactive displays for schools. NetDragon executives say that the Edmodo acquisition rounds out their education product portfolio—meaning the company will have tools for supporting multiple aspects of learning including; preparation, instructional delivery, homework, assignment grading, communication with parents students and teachers and a content marketplace.
NetDragon’s monetization plan for Edmodo focuses on building out content that gets sold via its platform. Similar to tools like TeachersPayTeachers, So hopes to see users putting up content on the platform’s marketplace, some free and others for a fee (including some virtual reality content), so that the community can buy, sell and review available educational tools.
As far as data privacy is concerned, So notes that NetDragon is still learning what it can and cannot do. He noted that the company will comply with Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal regulation created in order to protect the privacy of children online, but says that the rules and regulations surrounding the law are confusing for all actors involved.
Historically, Chinese companies have faced trust and branding issues when moving into the United States market, and the reverse is also true for U.S. companies seeking to expand overseas. Companies have also struggled to learn the rules, regulations and operational procedures in place in other countries.
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https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/pompeo-merkel-iran-huawei-agenda-110409835.html
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more on data privacy in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=data+privacy
Bill seeks to shield students social media info
The proposed social media privacy law, scheduled to be considered by the state Senate Wednesday, bars any institution from asking or requiring an applicant or enrolled student to disclose a user name or password for a personal social media account.
Under the bill, a student could also not be prevented from participating in extracurricular activities if they refuse to disclose social media accounts or provide a list of contacts associated with those accounts.
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more on privacy in this IMS blog:
BLEND-ONLINE : Call for Chapter Proposals– Privacy and Remote Learning
Digital Scholarship Initiatives at Middle Tennessee State University invites you to propose a chapter for our forthcoming book.
Proposal submission deadline: January 21, 2022
Interdisciplinary perspectives are highly encouraged
Topics may include but are not limited to:
More details, timelines, and submission instructions are available at dsi.mtsu.edu/cfpBook2022
https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/12/key-findings-on-privacy-in-higher-education
report The Evolving Landscape of Data Privacy in Higher Education
Responses from the 2020 EDUCAUSE Student Technology report concerning student data privacy highlight a large gap of understanding that institutions need to bridge between student knowledge and administrative plans and policies
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more on privacy in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy