Benjamin Herold reports:
Privacy advocates say the increased collection, storage, and sharing of educational data pose real threats to children and families, from identify theft to nuisance advertising, misguided profiling to increased surveillance of everyday activities.
There is even the potential for physical harm to students, alleges one Arizona legislator who authored a recently passed privacy law in response to complaints that low-income children had been subjected to unnecessary dental work by corporate-affiliated “mobile dentists” relying on easy access to school records.
But while some parents, advocates, and academics are raising alarms that sensitive student data are being poorly safeguarded and improperly shared, it remains difficult to document the scope of the harm caused by the misuse of such information.
Read more on Education Week.