http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2020/11/student_data_future_criminals_pasco_privacy.html
Using Student Data to Identify Future Criminals: A Privacy Debacle
Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), schools can share student records with a contractor or outside party to whom the school has outsourced certain functions, if that outside party (like a designated school resource officer) meets all three of these conditions:
- The outside party is performing a service that would otherwise be performed by school employees.
- The outside party’s use of education records is under the direct control of the school.
- The outside party does not use the education records for anything other than the reason they were originally shared, and does not share the education record with anyone else unless it secures written consent from the parent of the student.
+++++Under EU law, citizen can demand a copy of all personal data that companies hold about them. However, more than one year after implementation of the new law, most Android and iPhone apps still completely ignore this right, a new study has found. from r/iphone
https://dl.acm.org/doi/epdf/10.1145/3407023.3407057
How do App Vendors Respond to Subject Access Requests? A Longitudinal Privacy Study on iOS and Android Apps
the results of a four-year undercover field study.
Besides a general lack of responsiveness, the observed problems range from malfunctioning download links and authentication mechanisms over confusing data labels and le structures to impoliteness, incomprehensible language, and even serious cases of carelessness and data leakage. It is evident from our results that there are no well-established and standardized processes for subject access requests in the mobile app industry. Moreover, we found that many vendors lack the motivation to respond adequately. Many of the responses we received were not only completely insucient, but also deceptive or misleading. Equally worrisome are cases of unsolicited dissolution of personal data, for instance, due to the
apparently widespread practice of deleting stale accounts without prior notice
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New lawsuit: Why do Android phones mysteriously exchange 260MB a month with Google via cellular data when they’re not even in use? from r/technology
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more on privacy data in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy+data
How To Keep Google From Collecting Your Data
Megan E. Holstein Dec 21, 2018 https://medium.com/swlh/how-to-keep-google-from-collecting-your-data-5fd97a6bf929
here are two places where you can turn off how Google tracks you: Activity Controls and Ad Settings.
Along with turning off Ad Personalization, you should turn off Shared Endorsements.
- Don’t use Sign In With Google
- Don’t use your Gmail, even for junk email
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more on privacy in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy
There’s a way to delete the frightening amount of data Google has on you
We’ll walk you through how to delete the information Google collects about you, from what you search to your location.
https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/theres-a-way-to-delete-the-frightening-amount-of-data-google-has-on-you/
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more on privacy in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy
Russia-linked spyware found on school laptops given to children by government from r/worldnews
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/russia-spyware-school-laptops-b1790759.html
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.
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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/
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-06-26-researchers-raise-concerns-about-algorithmic-bias-in-online-course-tools
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Students fear for their data privacy after University of California invests in private equity firm
A financial link between a virtual classroom platform and the University of California system is raising eyebrows
https://www.salon.com/2020/07/28/students-fear-for-their-data-privacy-after-university-of-california-invests-in-private-equity-firm/
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
What Happens to Student Data Privacy When Chinese Firms Acquire U.S. Edtech Companies?
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-04-24-what-happens-to-student-data-privacy-when-chinese-firms-acquire-u-s-edtech-companies
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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Iran and Huawei top agenda as Pompeo meets Merkel for 45 minutes in Berlin
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/pompeo-merkel-iran-huawei-agenda-110409835.html
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Merkel to Ratchet up Huawei Restrictions in Concession to Hawks
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-13/merkel-to-ratchet-up-huawei-restrictions-in-concession-to-hawks
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more on data privacy in this IMS blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=data+privacy