Privacy: Google Admits to Data-Mining Student Emails
From an EPIC Blog Post:
In a sworn statement filed with a federal court, Google has admitted to scanning student emails to serve students targeted advertisements. Although Google does not display ads in Apps for Education, Google “does scan [student] email” to “compile keywords for advertising” on Google sites.
Google has gained access to student emails pursuant to the Education Department’s recently revised regulations, which significantly weakened the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal student privacy law. Still, Google’s practices appear to contravene the Education Department’s “best practices” for online educational service providers.
More From the Electronic Privacy Information Clearinghouse (EPIC):
More Info, Background
Education Week: Google Under Fire for Data-Mining Student Email Messages (March 13, 2014)
Greg Sterling at Marketing Land: Google Seeking To Keep Depth Of Gmail Scanning Confidential (March 17, 2014)
Bloomberg: Google Wants E-Mail Scanning Information Blocked (March 17, 2014)
Filed under: Data Files, Digital Preservation, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
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