Parents and school districts are beginning to understand that student information will no longer be private.
The Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation created something called the Shared Learning Collsborative, now called inBloom. They have a contract to Wireless Generation, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, to create the software to collect massive amounts of data. InBloom will collect confidential data about students. It will be stored on a “cloud” managed by Amazon. There is no guarantee that the data cannot be hacked.
All if this became possible when the U.S. Department of Education changed the regulations governing privacy rights in 2011. Thus, the data about students may now be stored on this cloud without parental permission. This is new and disturbing.
Who will have access to your child’s information?
Robert Shepherd” is concerned about where this is heading. He wrote:
“So, here’s a question: what is the purpose of inuring students to total surveillance–to having no privacy whatsoever, to being continually monitored, to having everything go into their permanent record, available to anyone with the money to pay for it?
What a great way to prepare people to be free citizens of a democratic state!
All this is about obedience training for the proles. The kids of the oligarchs will go to private schools where this sort of thing is not done.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is our Constitution completely forgotten? Has it no place in our lives anymore?
Is a democratic form of government not to be enjoyed anymore?
HOW in the world did we get to this place?
Yes, Yes, Yes and through GAGA teachers and administrators.
This is only part of the problem. A couple of articles I read the past few days led me to write this post on my blog: http://waynegersen.com/2013/10/31/brave-new-world/
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts sent a hard-hitting letter to Arne Duncan recently to pin him down on the changes he made to FERPA that made all of this data collection possible. I’m waiting to see his response.
Click to access 2013-10-22_FERPA.pdf
Thank you for posting this, Sheila. Please post Duncan’s response, if he ever responds.
In Chicago? Come to the PURE/PAA/More Than A Score forum on data privacy on November 21 @ Fosco Park. http://pureparents.org/?p=20973
Great work, Tim!
The letter from Senator Markey is about as hard-hitting as a whiffle ball.
The proper place for those who would share students’ personal data without parental consent is not in the office of the Secretary of Education, in the office of state commissioner of education, in the superintendent’s office or the principal’s office. The proper place for such a person is prison.
Secretary Duncan: Orwell’s 1984 was not meant to be a government operations manual and policy guide.
I agree (with your assessment of Markey’s letter) but I also feel that we should flood his office with letters similar in nature. Give Ed credit though, he is the only person I know of to ask and challenge Sir Duncan on his legislative powers in regards to FERPA. The next stop for Arne should be one the street and then in jail. Squat. Spread em. Cough.
You are absolutely right, Mark! My hat is off to Senator Markey for being on of the few among his colleagues who is paying attention and have not been bought.
yes, Mark, he is doing what is possible and commendable within the democratic system ; to say “prison” is hyperbole; we need to have the appropriate avenues that are in the process of activism at state and federal and local levels; I call the governor’s office every week they are sick of hearing from me. I also remember that Ed Markey stayed on the issue of the BP gulf oil spill and was instrumental in getting cameras turned on for the public; if he stays on this issue with dogged determination that will help but we ALL need to do our part. thanks for your comments, Mark. By the way the person in Ed Markey’s office who is working on this issue is Joey Wender; give the office a call even ifyou don’t live in MA (see phone number I appended to an earlier post)
I did not mean “prison” to be hyperbole. I meant precisely what I said. I think that we need a federal law that says that sharing students’ private data with third parties without parental consent is a crime punishable by prison time.
But yes, Senator Markey deserves a great deal of honor for doing this and for going about it via the proper protocols. At the same time, I think we should be lobbying for that bill that would make this into a serious crime, a felony.
I have written NYS Senators urging them to demand an investigation into this. I want to see parents and teachers across New York State demand it.
thanks, concerned mom; this is what we have to do as individuals. I also call Senator Elizabeth Warren (as well as Markey) and I thank her for “staying on the issue of the banks”; for 5 years I was quiet because we needed health care and we need E. Warren on the banks but this is another important issue and I keep calling my governor as well. Stay involved and get your friends and neighbors on the issues as well.
I’m sending this out to my local BOE in Montgomery County, MD. I’m curious about their policy and for that matter whether parents know about this. Should be interesting. Will post a response from BOE President (Chris Barkley) if I get one in your “About” section.
Mark, that is an excellent approach; I don’t think parents know about this. In Massachusetts the education department has authorized purchase of mobile device/app that will gather data on Pre Schoolers; they say that because parent accepts the “gift” of the app (free of charge to parent paid for in each school district — one city alone spent $50,000) that they can do “an end run” around parental consent. Whenever I write about this I indicate they are doing this to parents who are unaware that are in the larger immigrant populations of the Greater Boston; the school committee in the wealthy district where I used to work would see through this “end run”…. the State Department of Education is following Duncan’s approach and the Governor has to sign off to get the funds so we need to keep all of them on the call lists at the state and local levels letting them know how offensive this is. I would like to attach the “winning bid” that got the app approved/authorized. They are very influential in state government and Washington and are getting their corporate marketing paid for in the school’s budget.
The theory behind inBloom is this: Education can be reduced to a series of bullet points, like those on a Powerpoint slide. (“There’s no bullet list like Stalin’s bullet list.”) Computer-adaptive curricula can test kids on those bullet items and deliver up the proper worksheets on a screen to match that bullet list. And someone needs to own that portal through which all curricula will pass and collect a toll whenever that happens. Secretary Duncan’s technology blueprint is basically the blueprint for creating this monopolistic, Orwellian nightmare.
“. . . like those on a Powerpoint slide. . . Computer-adaptive curricula can test kids on those bullet items and deliver up the proper worksheets on a screen. . .”
Robert have you seen the latest article in Scientific American: The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: Why Paper Still Beats Screens [Preview]? See: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-reading-brain-in-the-digital-age-why-paper-still-beats-screens
Ironic as this post is!
yes, you are right about the tolls. I did some early technology work in MA and the license agreements were worked out based on non-profit and what schools could afford to use the software (unlimited access and duplication/replication for a fee). There was an expensive early on CAI with distribution that was effective but since that time the “gold mine” has opened up and it is caveat emptor. I would like to show people the current plan for a licensing agreement that has been signed in Massachusetts and school districts are tuning in at $50,000 each. It also bothers me that companies like Pearson who prepare the state test for teachers put their copyright on all the products. When did education become merchandising? P.s. I also like your Stalin reference (his 5 year plans would coincide with Duncan’s but Duncan is up to 8 years on his and then another mandarin takes over). I have seen the word “vaporware” used in describing the merchandise (the red tail light guarantee).
Jean, thank you for the fine, fine work that you are doing! Outstanding!
This whole thing–from the national standards to the national database and curriculum portal–was a business plan. And Duncan and his cronies are just the wind-up toys hired to carry it out. As Duncan’s Chief of Staff put it: “The new standards are about creating national markets for products that can be brought to scale.”
A business plan
We can have computer-adaptive curricula without creating this Orwellian tool and placing it in the hands of any future business-government alliance. A free people will vigorously oppose this.
I have worked with boards in preparing grants for federal funds and the board (local professionals and businessmen) members do not know how to look at the budgets. There was a “board” in Massachusetts that voted an executive “CEO” type ‘s salary up and up (he was in the teacher retirement system but preferred to call himself a CEO) because he “saved them money” all the time he was robbing them blind. The board was co-opted and bought off. I don’t know how you would build a more vigilant system. The local board which is supposed to make decisions is not effective in these kinds of markets; furthermore, the state boards/committees are pawns of the person in charge ; even when the board chairman disputes the value of a technology the person in the state office puts out the bid and RFP anyway. They gather many people with official titles who are too busy to do the work that is necessary then they say “board approved”. It is a sham. Are you aware that the President of Purdue got himself appointed by a Board he had previously appointed? How would you expect the democracy to work…. I am not being facetious I would like to know how to make these efforts more effective. In Massachusetts Alan Dershowitz said “if there were no Billy Bulger in the state house there would have been no Whitey Bulger.” These are only the ones who are going to jail; there is a good bit more of corruption than appears on the surface. I know the expression is “murder will out” but it takes 20 or more years?
Yes, I know about the horror of the crony appointment of Daniels to the presidency of one of our finest universities. But this is typical. Our new Secretary of Commerce became Secretary of Commerce after she and her cronies bought our president a 36-million-dollar home in Hawaii that he will move into when he leaves office.
Aren’t charter schools free from the tyranny of InBloom et al., too –as with Common Core? And could that be to give parents incentives to remove their kids from neighborhood schools and put them in charters?
Charters shouldn’t be free of the CC if it is coming from the state. I thought charter schools are public schools that are free of the LEA, but have to follow state rules. Does anyone know if that is correct? Because if charters in CC states don’t have to follow the CC, I think that is a big issue. Charters also got RttT money.
Ahh, come on. Quit complaining. National education data collection and centralization is the American way! The collectors and enablers do not care about your right to privacy. These reforms will lead to lots and lots of $$$$$ for already wealthy individuals, investors and businesses.
Personalized learning is the end goal for these reformers. All the building blocks are in place for personalized learning : a national curriculum (CCS), a moldable, compliant workforce ( assessments and teacher evaluation, 5-week teacher training summer camps), centralized data ( assessments, InBloom), technological infrastructure (assessments).
There are many “philanthropic” groups who have invested enormous amounts of time and money to move this concept forward. (An aside- one of these big, “philanthropic”, not-for-profit ventures is paying the CEO $500,000.) They need their investments to pay off. Money trumps privacy. Money trumps our childrens’ health and happiness. To reach the end goal, these reformers will do whatever they need to, whether it is to ignore the will of the American people, ignore Constitutional law or even change a law to suit their needs. The end justifies the means.
Wealthy individuals and politicians have banded together to change public education in this country whether we like it or not! Is this the American way?
Just a Reacher Saying:
The American way–bugging the personal cellphones of our allies–is causing us to be distrusted around the world. Friends don’t bug friends.
Jonathan Pollard’s conviction suggests that the United States does not enjoy being spied on by friends.
TE,
Someone has to take the fall every now and again for those at the top.
It makes all cower to the powers that be.
it is and has become the culture; you are right. There is such disdain for the “rest of us” by the 1% at the top; and , as in the presidential campaign, the “47%”…. it is a serious trend in the culture that cuts a line “us” and “them”…. I have also observed it in the campaigns as (a) we need workers ; (b) the workers are all beneath us and it describes for me what people think of as humanity and the quality of life. As a female I see it in the “Oldest war” — the war against women but that may be taking the issue further than you really want to go. sorry if that offends you…… but it is the pursuit of “gold” as you have described and it has become identified with “success” and even “intelligence” which people use as a proxy for culture/ethnic and character in a reductionistic way to assign a number to someone and send them to the end of the food stamp line. Thanks, just a teacher for getting my mind to work this morning.
One thing that always confuses me about the surrveilance issue is that many of the people who flip out and start quoting Orwell when the government does it are perfectly fine with a giant corporation having hundreds of personal pictures of their child, thousands of lines of their child’s personal text, and even location data! I guess as long as its “voluntary” its ok?
The text and lines I assume are from cell phones? My eight year old does not have a phone and won’t in the near future.
Concerned Mom: I hear you; I was totally dismayed when the grandson was allowed to watch Star Wars by himself and play with the pause button for hour on end. He then went to watching his brothers do the violent “shoot ’em up” video games. He wasn’t encouraged to use a book but he did learn to read (quite well) by playing a video game about capitalistic “entrepreneurs” acting as colonialists ; this was his first grade experience. So he did learn to read and I guess you could say that was “good”…. he did learn the mazes to work through various video games to win “prizes” etc. But what kinds of attitudes and values are we engaging? I commend you for your carefulness in raising an 8 year old. When we studied child development and “practicing” that the child had to perform to adapt and learn it was with poems, or stories, or a playhouse or a board game. Now it seems to be an individual working inside a machine instead of interactions with other people.
I hear you, CTee. I am one of those reluctant users of Transponder so I pay a toll every time I use the highway or a bridge; but now even that option is closing down. I know friends who refuse to buy cell phones and refuse to use ATM cards but I don’t go that far.
C’Tee, with no public discussion whatsoever, our government started requiring cell phones sold in this country to have GPS devices on them that would allow any citizen to be located at any time. In Tampa, where I live, we have 50 million dollars worth of new street cameras with face recognition software behind them, courtesy of the build-up to the Republican National Convention. There have been 36,000 requests for licenses for drones filed with the FAA by U.S. police departments. According the Wired magazine’s cover article on the new NSA data center, its purpose is to record and store permanently EVERY electronic communication made by anyone in the country. Obama’s attorney general issued a finding saying that it’s not surveillance until they look at the data, which they can do based upon a finding from a secret court accountable only to the person who is asking for the finding–the president. The NDAA, signed into law by President Obama, gives the president sole authority to point to a citizen and call him or her a terrorist and to remove that person entirely from any legal process, indefinitely. St. Petersburg, Florida’s police department just bought an armored tank with infrared cameras that can see through walls and listening devices that can hear anything being said inside any building. And yes, I when I started a Facebook account and put into it that I lived in Saint Petersburg (Florida), I immediately started getting ads on various Internet portals written in Russian and advertising Russian cars and vodka.
Welcome to the Panopticon.
But I don’t get your point. Are you saying that kids’ data should not be kept private? That everything they ever did in school should follow them all the days of their lives? That anyone with a checkbook ought to have access to it? You are not suggesting, are you, that two wrongs make a right?
My Lord! When did the Obama administration give the Department of Education permission to set up the NESA (National Education Surveillance Advisory) board? This is far more dangerous than Obamacare!
It has been sold in the same way that 1983 sold education policy “Beat the Japs” I am sorry for the pejorative term but that was current in those times. Today it is “beat out ” the _______ and add the country. To me it is a sad way to look at civilization ; always seeing something or someone else you have to conquer. It is empire building and neocolonialism. I wish more people in this country would see that and revolt but they use the paradigm of the “bottom line” dollar sign to justify everything and to define “success” in life.
These decisions are made with no accountability whatsoever to the citizens of the United States. They are pure fiat.
Perhaps those who govern our nation would understand if they were subjected to in-bloom for themselves so that every trip to the doctor would be duly noted (including therapist), a melt down at a closed door meeting at work would be recorded, speech drafts pre editing were recorded, their child’s IQ and their own will be recorded, their social security numbers, their 5th grade report card as well as each report card for every year of their education, their father’s salary, their mother and father’s health records, all prescribed medications of their family members and them, their height, weight, what they eat, what mattress they bought, how much they spend on electricity etc… Then all this information could be stored on a “guaranteed” safe network using their social security numbers (yeah right) and let the registered voting public HAVE THE DATA when the politicians are vying for public office so we can make an “INFORMED” decision about them… if data really tells it all! I say all this in jest as it reads more like Jonathan Swift’s, “A Modest Proposal”. This In-Bloom must be stopped for the good of our national democracy. We are a nation that is beginning to look like the former Soviet Union in the 50’s. I do remain optimistic that with our collective voices sanity can be restored. I cannot help but ask if those who promote terrorism around the world are indeed “winning” when it causes our own nation to bug its citizens and to bug its allies around the nation under the auspices of “security”. Are we ironically losing our “freedom” in the name of “freedom”??? It disturbs me immensely that parents have NO SAY in the collection of very private data on their own children and that public schools will be made to enforce this. Very disturbing!
Does this make the census obsolete?
good question; I do genealogy as a hobby. I was looking for aformer neighbor who died in FL and I knew his wife’s name was Ruth. That is all I knew about him. The obituary gave a little hint of his family. But then I found his FL voting registration and it gave hs wife’s maiden name and the way they were registered. Is that common in information systems? Is there a system that tells I am registered as a Democrat? If so I am going to change it right away to independent (fiercely independent). Thanks for the post , jon
Speaking of the census, in 1933, the new Nazi government of Germany conducted its census. I’m sure that there were those who weren’t worried, at all, about putting their religious affiliation on that form.
Any central command and control authority that we create becomes available to ANY FUTURE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, under ANY FUTURE CONDITIONS. If we create the means for totalitarian control, eventually it will be used in that way.
As I’ve posted before, according to the book by Edwin Black titled: IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation, the reason the Nazis were able to so easily locate any undesirable and fulfill their nefarious purposes (and make the trains run on time) was that they had the advantage of the tabulating machines and punch cards (pre-computer) from Thomas Watson’s IBM. The author has exhaustively researched his work, and it reveals the horrifying callousness of the IBM leadership, who knew how their equipment was being used, and went forward due to sympathetic leanings, but mostly out of greed. I haven’t finished the book, so I haven’t found out how Watson managed not to be tried as the most vile traitor ever in American history. Plausible deniability is my assumption. If we think it can’t possibly happen here, think again.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not collecting and disseminating data about innocent children. Something here is just not right.
Isn’t there an old adage that says something like, “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”? I’m sure many of you must have had a mother say to you the same thing my mother said to me after I did something particularly stupid at the urging of someone equally prone to stupid moves: “If Johnny told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?” Too many people have been emulating lemmings lately. Billy, Barry, Arne,… have been telling us to do stupid things that even they wouldn’t do. H-m-m-m. I’m not sure what point I am trying to make. I have a tendency to think out loud or, some would say, speak before I think. 🙂
I see this as an ethics issue When I wrote to my state education leaders about my concerns over inBloom, I mentioned that I trusted officials to use sound judgement when sharing student data.
“I’m sure many of you must have had a mother say to you. . . ”
Yep, many a time-ha ha! Then I learned how to not get caught at doing some of those things. Ah that good ol Catholic schooling to teach one how to evade and avoid authorities (the woods were a good start). But that was back then when “parents were parents” and “kids were kids”. (that’s said facetiously)
NSA is being defended on TV this morning; “everyone goes through red lights” “people are sloppy in filling out their income tax.” etc. etc.
I don’t think I can be facetious but I would rather be sarcastic!!!!!!
Thanks Duane for the comments to get my brain working
My pleasure.
But I think the best wordsmith here is KTA!
This is what I mean by an end run around parents.
quote: “The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care…seek[s] an innovative technological solution to systematize and scale the aforementioned Early Childhood Information System.
1. Obtaining Parental Consent: …..a proprietary biometrics technology that will allow the Commonwealth to collect a parent’s digital signature on consent forms from any smart mobile phone, tablet, or computer, thus allowing the Commonwealth to collect the data necessary to provide families and childcare agencies with the resources they need to help every child. This electronic process of collecting parental consent conforms to Massachusetts’ digital signature laws (see page 10, section F), and is a fraction of the cost of paper-related expenses. It also massively reduces the extraordinary time associated with physically submitting, handling, and storing bulky consent forms.”
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Well, the democratic process of allowing parents to submit data or agree creates a “bulky” paper process so let’s just get around the law by doing it this way??????
Does anyone else see the problem here that I see????
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quote: #2. Using Mobile Technology……..according to a recent PEW survey, approximately 50% of African American and Latino families own a smart mobile device….takes advantage of this trend because any content that is uploaded to the Platform can be deployed overnight to any smart phone or digital device such as iPhones, iPads, iTouches, Android phones and tablets, Kindle Fire, or Microsoft 7 or 8 phones or tablets as well as traditional computers. ”
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My contention is that they specifically target a group here. Will they be “giving” these apps to the parents in the Exeter schools or the Andover Prep Academies? I personally think a school committee in an affluent town would see through it but there is no guarantee .
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quote # 3. “Real Time Data… One of the hardest things for any institution to do is to collect timely formative assessment data on early learners since most are not yet able to read or write….Early Learning Mobile Technology PlatformTM …..provides assessment data in real time. These activities and games can be accessed from any smart mobile device or computer, thus expanding The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care technology infrastructure to reach the most families. ”
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My interpretation is that the data are like InBloom collected and used for marketing purposes and for merchandising. And, the school district coughs up $50,000 to get the “apps” device to “give” to the child….. Sounds like a trick or treat to me with mostly tricks in the offing.
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These quotes are from a 5 page plan; I didn’t want to fill up the whole blog but if you would like a copy I will attach in an email (jeanhaverhill@aol.com)
This is used to justify collecting any data on any child; that was not the purpose of the law to trick parents into a signature to give up rights of privacy for their home and children.
quote: “President Clinton digitally signed into law the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN Act). This public law provides that: (1) a signature, contract, or other record relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form; and (2) a contract relating to such transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or electronic record was used in its formation.
At the State level, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), passed by 48 US States, provides much the same protections to electronic signatures and records. In 2003, Massachusetts enacted in its general law that electronic signatures were enforceable (In Mass. Gen. Law ch. 110G, § 7). According to Massachusetts law (section 7):
(a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.
(b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.
(c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.
(d) If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.
……. Digital Signatures—a very specific sub-category of electronic signatures that are based on an industry standard called Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Digital signatures are based on standard PKI technology and guarantee signer identity, intent, and data integrity of signed documents. They cannot be copied, tampered, or altered.”
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they are devising efficient ways to tricking people into a one-time signature that permits endless data mining? for marketing purposes??????
If I am being paranoid here please tell me. I understand it does solve the problem of “the burdensome task of gathering paper” signatures and explaining to the parent the purposes of the data gathering, or where the data will be stored, or who has access to the data and who pays the toll costs (local schools? state taxpayers?)
jeanhaverhill@aol.com (I’ll attach the full 5 page application/proposal that was funded)
NSA is slightly off topic here but it is a related issue; because we have gigantic computers and clouds we need to get EVERYTHING …
quote: “Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and Sen. Patrick Leahy just introduced the USA Freedom Act, which would end the NSA’s bulk collection of our phone records and require more oversight and transparency of the agency’s domestic surveillance programs. Even Sensenbrenner — one of the Patriot Act’s authors — thinks the NSA has gone too far. This bipartisan bill would prevent the NSA from spying on all of us — limiting the agency to collecting data on actual targets of criminal investigations. And it would mean the end of the NSA’s “back-door” warrantless searches of Americans’ private information.”
But it actually gets worse, Diane: One of the reasons for the push on the part of so many of these companies to “eliminate paper” and “go all electronic” for any and all classroom work is not out of some concern for forestry management and the environment: it’s so that literally every keystroke, every screen tap, every alpha numeric character ever made by our children—in the classroom, or doing homework outside of class—will be captured by the Murdoch/inBloom database. And we’ll have no means of getting access to it and no assurances that they’ll actually correct and update inaccurate information.
Anyone who has ever tried to get through to one of the three major credit bureaus, to correct an inaccuracy on their credit report, knows EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Just imagine how much worse it will be when “The Great and Powerful Oz” collects and maintains every person’s “Permanent Record”.
There’s no “conspiracy” here; go to the inBloom website and the websites of groups working with them and you’ll see that, if anything, they’re crowing about it—bragging about the “brilliance” of this “completely comprehensive database” that they hope will eventually be expanded from the moment of a baby’s birth, throughout their preschool years, their entire working careers, retirement, and final days in a nursing home; all supposedly to “help” us with our children’s future, but, in reality, designed to be used by corporations as the “ultimate use of Big Data”, mining all of this data, continually refreshed, with the goal of understanding each human being as “their own market”, with a personalized sales and marketing approach, “specially designed for you”, based on all this data you’ve given us since the day you were born!”
Yup. It’s just the beginning. Orwell’s Ingsoc could only have dreamed of having the reach that is being created here in the Land of the Free.
And it gets even worse: So many districts and states signed away our rights as parents when they agreed to take desperately needed funding after the 2008 market crash. Some of them apparently didn’t read the fine print.
That database—by Murdoch/inBloom’s own admission, wants to be absolutely comprehensive, including all your child’s medical records, from birth onwards.
It’s more than an absolutely egregious; I struggle to find words to adequately express the appropriate amount of utter outrage. It’s criminal—quite literally.
THIS is an issue that ALL parents will agree on. It cuts across political ideologies, income and education levels, regions, ethnicities and all other factors.
NO ONE wants their child to be a mere “datapoint” whose every injection, prescription, “D” grade, and who knows…eventually bathroom visits? Why not?—will be in a databank that we have no access to and can never know for certain has been removed upon legal request—if we’re ever even granted such legal requests.
We The People have to unite and come together on this one. We have a common enemy here. And what we normally regard as progressive, conservative, centrist and everything else have to see our common enemy and respond with full determination and fury!
WE WON’T STAND FOR THIS. WE SIMPLY WON’T!
From the beginnings of the Internet, there has been a war going on between those who want it to be a pull medium, driven by its users, and those who want it to be a push medium through which a centralized message can be delivered by the few and the powerful.
That war is about to be won by the pushers.
We’re about to see the creation of a single national portal of student responses that will also act as the gateway through which curricula will pass. A single gateway controlled by a few people.
Murdoch controls Fox. Gates controls MSNBC. They already own those push media. Now they are partners in this new one.
One ring to rule them all.
Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing!