Thousands of free Android educational apps available in the Google Play store are tracking children in violation of a major federal data-privacy law, exposing kids to targeted ads and automatic profiling. The study “Won’t Somebody Think of the Children” was published in the scholarly journal Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies. The researchers say the problems are rampant and parents are
provided a privacy analysis of each app, including the popular Google Classroom and Khan Academy. With almost no public oversight, Google quickly took over America’s classrooms by developing the “free” Google Apps for Education suite, or GAFE, and circumventing administrators, opting to go straight to teachers. Rather than pushing specific products, Google convinced educators that students’ college and career prospects could be improved by the creative use of online tools. READ MORE
