On April 13, 2017, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) published Spying on Students, a report detailing its investigation into school-issued devices and student privacy. EFF found that parents were overwhelmingly not informed about what educational technology (Ed Tech) their students were using. As a result, students and/or parents were the ones burdened with investigating what Ed Tech was used, what privacy policies were governed, and what privacy implications they may carry. Not surprisingly, parents were particularly concerned with what personally identifiable information was being collected and whether that information would be shared or sold.

EFF also analyzed the privacy policies of every Ed Tech app, software, programs or services identified by its survey recipients. Of the 152 Ed Tech services reported, only 118 had privacy policies available online. Few policies addressed deletion of data after periods of inactivity. Less than a third stated that the vendor used encryption or mentioned de-identification or aggregation of user data.
Continue Reading EFF Report Finds That Student Data is Not Adequately Protected By Ed Tech Companies