Google has certainly got some explaining to do after this one. It is being reported by the EFF that they are infringing on young student’s privacy even though they signed a pledge promising not to. The EFF said that they have been collecting the browsing information of the children that are using their devices in school. This is extremely unfortunate news and they should be ashamed.
THE EFF EXPLAINS WHAT GOOGLE IS DOING?
The EFF has broken down how Google is getting this information from the children of various schools. EFF reports that they record everything that the students do while they are logged into their accounts and then they use the information for their own purposes. Those purposes have not been revealed, but the wonder of what they are doing is very intriguing. They are also no stranger to helping out children as they have stated in the past that they are a part of programs that cater towards education. However, for them to continue to collect their information even after signing not to, is head scratching.
WILL GOOGLE BE PUNISHED FOR THIS?
The EFF has already announced that they want the FTC to investigate this issue. They stated that they want them to destroy all of the data and make it so they can never collect it again. If the FTC does indeed investigate this case it seems highly unlikely that Google would have any chance of winning. As mentioned earlier, the EFF has already stated that Google signed a pledge to not collect the student’s information. How they will be able to get around that and still win the case, if it happens, is beyond imagination.
IS GOOGLE SCARRED FOR LIFE?
One thing that is for sure is that Google will need to take a long look in the mirror after this has been revealed. Only they know what they are doing with the student’s collected data, but it does not matter considering they pledged not to ever do it again. The punishment might be pretty big for them and their company may have just taken a shot as well.
