Google and Child Privacy
Would you let a stranger read everything your child does at school? Know every web site they visit? See a copy of every photo they take and know about every book they read? How about a group of strangers, because that is what happens when children use Google classroom and school issued Chromebooks.
Do you think any of the 20-something programmers at Google have kids and understand how vulnerable children are? Let’s not make any mistake, they are a for profit company that profits by gathering your private information and selling it to advertisers.
That this is Google’s business model is fine, but they should be more honest about it. There is a reason that they want to get a grip on young children, first so that they can build that private information profile from early in life and second to desensitize them to the idea of giving their private data to tech firms.
They know children will not be aware of their privacy and by building a profile now when they are young, Google will own them for life.
Parents should recognize there is a trade off. The use of Chromebooks and the google classroom suite of tools has been a positive on the productivity of teachers and the schools. Parents and the schools need to acknowledge that these services are not free (as advertised), Google is not a charity. Is the trade-off of low cost/free technology in exchange for the private information of your child worth it? It’s a question worth asking.
Some interesting links:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/04/19/eff-google-chromebook-is-still-spying-on-grade-school-students
https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy
https://www.eff.org/issues/student-privacy