Leading advocates for student privacy warn that the Senate Commerce Committee is close to approving legislation that will NOT protect student privacy.
For Immediate Release: September 21, 2016
Contact: Rachael Stickland; rachael@studentprivacymatters.org, 303-204-1272
Parent Coalition for Student Privacy opposes passage of Daines/Blumenthal SAFE KIDS Act
Coalition members fear the bill would open up the floodgates of commercialism
The Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, composed of parents, advocates and educators throughout the nation, and whose members led the fight against inBloom, came out against the SAFE KIDS Act, co-sponsored by Senators Daine and Blumenthal, scheduled to be marked up in the Commerce Committee today.
Rachael Stickland, co-chair of the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy said, “While we appreciate the sincere motivation of these Senators to put controls on how personal student information is used by companies and organizations, we believe that this bill would inadvertently further erode student privacy. Right now, both the Student Privacy Pledge and FERPA, as well as other federal laws, actually ban the use of student data for non-educational purposes including behavioral advertising, while this bill would seem to allow for that possibility. There is also much confusion and ambiguity in the bill’s language about how parents would be informed about how their children’s data is being used by companies, how to request its deletion, and when this will occur, as well as what specific security protections will be required to protect against breaches.”
Josh Golin, Executive Director of Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, said: “The bill, though well-intentioned, has far too many loopholes to give children the protection from commercial exploitation that they deserve. It allows unlimited targeted ads to students through the use of apps assigned by schools, as long as these ads are based on personal information gained through an individual online session. It also exempts some of the most frequently assigned websites and apps such as YouTube. This is unacceptable, as advertising is harmful to children and detracts from any educational benefits the program might otherwise provide.”
Leonie Haimson, the Executive Director of Class Size Matters and the co-chair of the Parent Coalition concluded, “We would like to work with Senators Daine and Blumenthal and the other members of the Commerce Committee, on improving this bill to ensure that student privacy is strengthened rather than further eroded. Right now, we cannot support this legislation given the huge push from the ed tech industry to exploit our children’s personal information and to treat them as consumers rather than as students. Parents are increasingly concerned about the accelerated adoption of so-called educational apps in schools; we strongly believe their use must be approached with caution and regulated with a firm hand, to ensure that they do not violate children’s privacy and safety or undermine the learning experience. We fear this bill would further open up the floodgates of commercialism.”
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for posting this Diane! We just learned the bill was pulled at the last minute; our revised press release is posted here: http://tinyurl.com/j63dw5t
If anyone would like to read the bill that was going to be voted on today it is posted here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8aik23koznFOGl1UndaUF9HUGxfUWNSLTczcGpFY1NRZ3Jr/view
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Good news, Leonie! Keep pushing to get it right.
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Thank heaven it was pulled. Dangerous stuff! Leonie Haimson, you are a hero to my students and me.
And as for my students and me, the only apps we’ll be using are between our ears.
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Sneaky devils
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We need a law that requires a ballot box proposal to clearly state its intent. There is no place for marketing mumbo jumbo when voters go to the polls. We don’t need to be mislead by those that want to confuse and deceive the electorate. Maybe they should be required to submit items to an impartial editor before presenting them to voters.
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It’ll be impossible to regulate if ed reformers get their wish and live instruction is replaced with cheap online versions for low and middle income kids in public schools.
I feel bad for them. “The adults” are throwing these kids to the tender mercies of a really brutal industry. Ignore all the touchy-feely ed tech hype. This is an industry like any other. They’re in it to make money. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s something wrong with adults pretending it isn’t true, however.
Adults know better. Kids don’t. Those 2nd graders better get up to speed fast, is all I can say. They better get good at reading user agreements. Maybe hire counsel? Pay an advocate?
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Cross-posted at http://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Student-Privacy-Advocates-in-General_News-Data-Mining_Learning_Legislation_Online-160921-823.html#comment618928
with this comment:
Online learning is the latest Orwellian trick to sell technology to schools. IN schools where iPads are purchased and given to kids, the internet is often too slow to work them, and when they do work, kids often use them to watch videos or play. They are next to useless as ‘online learning tools; all this ‘tech stuff’ does nothing to advance learning.”
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Glad this was pulled, but you can be certain that the data seekers for commercial gains will be at this again, and again, and in various committees not limited to Commerce.
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Yes, unfortunately, exactly so, Laura. 😦
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I almost never drop remarks, however I browsed some of the responses
on Student Privacy Advocates to Congress: DO NOT PASS the Phony “
Safe Kids Act” | Diane Ravitch's blog. I do have a couple of questions for you if you don’t mind.
Could it be just me or do some of these
comments appear like they are written by brain dead
visitors? 😛 And, if you are posting at other social
sites, I’d like to follow everything new you have to post.
Would you make a list of the complete urls of all your public sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?
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