Privacy considerations increasingly intersect with the deployment of wireless and digital infrastructure systems. Telecommunications networks, connected devices, cloud platforms, and large-scale data systems can collect and process significant amounts of information about individuals and communities.
These questions arise across a wide range of technologies, including telecommunications infrastructure, digital platforms used by public institutions, education technologies used in schools, and emerging “smart” systems such as sensor networks, automated traffic enforcement cameras, license plate readers, digital twins, and other data-driven urban technologies. As these systems expand, questions of corporate influence, transparency, governance, and privacy protections have become central to discussions about technology policy and infrastructure oversight.
Privacy and Student Data
Discussions about privacy in schools often intersect with broader debates about education technology, digital rights, and the responsibilities of public institutions to safeguard sensitive information.
Schools increasingly rely on digital platforms and networked technologies to support learning, administration, and communication. These systems can involve the collection and analysis of student data, raising questions about data protection, consent, and governance of information related to children and educational environments.
Montgomery County Public Schools uses AI-supported tool to improve safety [FYI: No Contract]
Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland
The Student Data Privacy Project
StudentDataPrivacyWebsiteScreenshot.png
Do you have kids in public school?
Did you know that a federal law called FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) allows you to request data obtained on your kids ?
Historically, that meant name, address, phone number in the school directory. Now it includes all the metadata collected by EdTech vendors delivering curriculum in the classroom (Kami, Prodigy, Zoom, Google, Naviance, Nearpod, Class Dojo, etc.). There are hundreds if not thousands used by your school every day.
A group of four parents (from DC to Seattle), have created the Student Data Privacy Project after we asked our district for the data collected by vendors and were denied.
Do you have kids in public school?
Did you know that a federal law called FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) allows you to request data obtained on your kids ?
Historically, that meant name, address, phone number in the school directory. Now it includes all the metadata collected by EdTech vendors delivering curriculum in the classroom (Kami, Prodigy, Zoom, Google, Naviance, Nearpod, Class Dojo, etc.). There are hundreds if not thousands used by your school every day.
A group of four parents (from DC to Seattle), have created the Student Data Privacy Project after we asked our district for the data collected by vendors and were denied.
Related Posts and Resources
Public-Private surveillance partnerships | Privacy International
Governments are collaborating with private companies, often with very little transparency. Here is why PI is concerned about surveillance outsourcing and other forms of public-private partnerships, and why together we must urgently expose them.
privacyinternational.org
ICE Uses a Growing Web of AI Services to Power Its Immigration Enforcement and Surveillance – American Immigration Council
ICE uses Palantir to analyze driver’s licenses, extract information from seized phones, and cross-search location data.
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org
The Global Expansion of AI Surveillance
A growing number of states are deploying advanced AI surveillance tools to monitor, track, and surveil citizens. Carnegie’s new index explores how different countries are going about this.
2022-01-26 Webinar: Citizen Rights and Remedies Under the Shadow of 5G Surveillance and Behavioral Modification — Broadband International Legal Action Network
This webinar assesses central legal issues and best practices concerning data privacy, surveillance, cyber-insecurity, control and censorship, mis- and disinformation, and the prediction and manipulation of human behavior in the Age of Surveillance Capitalism. The program particularly focuses on the
Declassified documents reveal CIA has been sweeping up information on Americans
Civil liberties watchdogs condemn agency’s collection of domestic data without congressional or court approval or oversight
Private dollars are seeding surveillance tech across the US
A number of local police departments are procuring surveillance tech with the help of donations from private sponsors — and from the tech firms themselves.
Under Cover of Mass Death, Andrew Cuomo Calls in the Billionaires to Build a High-Tech Dystopia
Big tech’s emerging pandemic shock doctrine demands heavy public subsidies for a no-touch, socially distanced coronavirus future.
Naomi Klein May 8, 2020, 12:50 p.m.
Naomi Klein May 8, 2020, 12:50 p.m.
theintercept.com
Luxury Surveillance — Real Life
People pay a premium for tracking technologies that get imposed unwillingly on others
US Needs a Data Protection Agency: EPIC
The U.S. urgently needs a Data Protection Agency. Because data can’t protect itself. #privacy #DPAinUS #datacantprotectitself epic.org/dpa
epic.org
How to Stop ‘Smart Cities’ From Becoming ‘Surveillance Cities’ : Sunlight Foundation
Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants…
sunlightfoundation.com
This is how we lost control of our faces
The largest ever study of facial-recognition data shows how much the rise of deep learning has fueled a loss of privacy.
www.technologyreview.com
/https%3A%2F%2Fspecials-images.forbesimg.com%2Fimageserve%2F5f08b8cfcf35c00006995ce0%2F0x0.jpg%3FcropX1%3D0%26cropX2%3D1920%26cropY1%3D0%26cropY2%3D1080)
Inside America’s Secretive $2 Billion Research Hub Collecting Fingerprints From Facebook, Hacking Smartwatches And Fighting Covid-19
Mitre Corp runs some of the U.S. government’s most hush-hush science and tech labs. The cloak-and-dagger R&D shop might just be the most important organization you’ve never heard of.
Welcome to 5G: Privacy and security in a hyperconnected world (or not?)
On top of all the security risks, another huge issue derived from having connected-by-default devices is the issue of not being in control of them. There is the risk that always-connected devices could translate into powerless users, putting us in risk of abuse.
One of the problems has to do with increasing the indiscriminate data collection and transmission that is currently taking place. The ability to have everything directly connected without connection density issues, could lead device manufacturers into negotiating the connectivity of their devices directly with mobile providers, and people would lose even more control over whether their devices are connected and what they can do.
But losing control of devices could also happen in a very literal way: devices will work (or not) outside of the control of a given user. A house appliance we buy using credit instalments, might decide not to work unless we are up to date with its instalments. 5G could be the gateway for new and dystopic future in which the meaning of property has radically changed, leading to an era where we don’t really own our devices, but instead possess a device that works as a service.
5G can also make power abuse even worst, with devices controlled by people outside the household, including gender and domestic violence and users – and victims! – not being allowed to disconnect those devices, or maybe not even aware of their existence, since they could be easily be concealed and remain connected, sending data to somebody else.
One of the problems has to do with increasing the indiscriminate data collection and transmission that is currently taking place. The ability to have everything directly connected without connection density issues, could lead device manufacturers into negotiating the connectivity of their devices directly with mobile providers, and people would lose even more control over whether their devices are connected and what they can do.
But losing control of devices could also happen in a very literal way: devices will work (or not) outside of the control of a given user. A house appliance we buy using credit instalments, might decide not to work unless we are up to date with its instalments. 5G could be the gateway for new and dystopic future in which the meaning of property has radically changed, leading to an era where we don’t really own our devices, but instead possess a device that works as a service.
5G can also make power abuse even worst, with devices controlled by people outside the household, including gender and domestic violence and users – and victims! – not being allowed to disconnect those devices, or maybe not even aware of their existence, since they could be easily be concealed and remain connected, sending data to somebody else.
What the Surveillance-Exploitation Complex Does | Privacy International
The range of topics PI explores, focusing on powers and capabilities enabled by the complex relationship between governments and industry. Governments surveillance are enabled by companies who develop and promote advanced surveillance capabilities, while government demand for expansive capabilities drives markets to deliver.
The Internet of Things Era: 6 Ways to Stay Safe
The IoT is full of promise, but it also means more cyberthreats, so you need to stay safe.
5G Privacy & Security Issues
Cybercrime Becomes a Major Concern With data breaches and identity theft becoming almost daily news, it should be no surprise that many people regard cybercrime as a major threat to their personal …
Fact Sheet by MoCoSafeG.org