US Regulator Forces Edtech Firms to Become Accountable for Damage to Children’s Identities

Big, positive news for public education and parents: “This order makes clear that ed tech providers cannot outsource compliance responsibilities to schools, or force students to choose between their #privacy and #education”.

Kudos to the Federal Trade Commission for standing up for chidren’s right to privacy and offering much-needed guidance to the poorly regulated #edtech sector. Lots of useful takeaways here for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada/Commissariat à la protection de la vie privée du Canada and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

Click to read the referenced article: FTC Says Ed Tech Provider Edmodo Unlawfully Used Children’s Personal Information for Advertising and Outsourced Compliance to School Districts | Federal Trade Commission

While I’m at it, a gentle reminder to government agencies is in order to impose student #datadeletion upon #cloud and education providers at the end of each #school year, without exception. This is particularly critical now that #AI and #biometric data #analytics are being normalized in classrooms.

Claudiu Popa is a book collector, author and the co-founder of the Knowledgeflow Foundation, a nonprofit organization that empowers communities to weaponize digital literacy and critical thinking against disinformation. He is also the CEO of Datarisk Canada, one of the first information security companies focused on the protection of intangible assets.