Remote Learning Apps Tracked Millions of US Children During Pandemic (msn.com) 44
An international investigation uncovered some disturbing results, reports the Washington Post. "Millions of children had their online behaviors and personal information tracked by the apps and websites they used for school during the pandemic..."
The educational tools were recommended by school districts and offered interactive math and reading lessons to children as young as prekindergarten. But many of them also collected students' information and shared it with marketers and data brokers, who could then build data profiles used to target the children with ads that follow them around the Web.
Those findings come from the most comprehensive study to date on the technology that children and parents relied on for nearly two years as basic education shifted from schools to homes. Researchers with the advocacy group Human Rights Watch analyzed 164 educational apps and websites used in 49 countries, and they shared their findings with The Washington Post and 12 other news organizations around the world.... What the researchers found was alarming: nearly 90 percent of the educational tools were designed to send the information they collected to ad-technology companies, which could use it to estimate students' interests and predict what they might want to buy.
Researchers found that the tools sent information to nearly 200 ad-tech companies, but that few of the programs disclosed to parents how the companies would use it. Some apps hinted at the monitoring in technical terms in their privacy policies, the researchers said, while many others made no mention at all. The websites, the researchers said, shared users' data with online ad giants including Facebook and Google. They also requested access to students' cameras, contacts or locations, even when it seemed unnecessary to their schoolwork. Some recorded students' keystrokes, even before they hit "submit."
The "dizzying scale" of the tracking, the researchers said, showed how the financial incentives of the data economy had exposed even the youngest Internet users to "inescapable" privacy risks — even as the companies benefited from a major revenue stream.
Those findings come from the most comprehensive study to date on the technology that children and parents relied on for nearly two years as basic education shifted from schools to homes. Researchers with the advocacy group Human Rights Watch analyzed 164 educational apps and websites used in 49 countries, and they shared their findings with The Washington Post and 12 other news organizations around the world.... What the researchers found was alarming: nearly 90 percent of the educational tools were designed to send the information they collected to ad-technology companies, which could use it to estimate students' interests and predict what they might want to buy.
Researchers found that the tools sent information to nearly 200 ad-tech companies, but that few of the programs disclosed to parents how the companies would use it. Some apps hinted at the monitoring in technical terms in their privacy policies, the researchers said, while many others made no mention at all. The websites, the researchers said, shared users' data with online ad giants including Facebook and Google. They also requested access to students' cameras, contacts or locations, even when it seemed unnecessary to their schoolwork. Some recorded students' keystrokes, even before they hit "submit."
The "dizzying scale" of the tracking, the researchers said, showed how the financial incentives of the data economy had exposed even the youngest Internet users to "inescapable" privacy risks — even as the companies benefited from a major revenue stream.
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Yup... Not one case of a kid being kidnapped while they were being sold on ...what?... How much disposable income do these kids have that attracted this type of tracking?
I don't like the secrecy or the fact that corporations play these games, but, what
is the impact of this tracking? What were the negative effects?
How are people supposed to be offended or upset, when as adults we are exposed to much worse -- with worse consequences. how many kids ended up being stalked, kidnapped, robocalled 10x/day, etc
Re:But they weren't at risk of being shot at (Score:5, Interesting)
What we've already seen is that the demographic data is a threat to national security which can and has been used already by Russians to launch massively socially destructive psyops against huge swathes of the population, magnifying civil and political unrest as well as mental illness and outright violence. Basically learning how to push the entire society's buttons and weaponizing it. Some of this stalking does indeed lead directly to human trafficking. Oh, and they're also figuring out exactly how much disposable income they have too, and what they'd spend it on.
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Re:But they weren't at risk of being shot at (Score:4)
But..but..Momma Pelosi and Daddy Schiff told me that bedtime story every night for years. You know, the one about a US President being a Russian asset,
yep [snopes.com]
launching massively socially destructive psyops against huge swathes of the population, magnifying civil and political unrest
Wait, there's not actually any question about that is there?
as well as mental illness and outright violence...
There's more question there, but only on the mental illness, because we can't seem to agree on what that means. But more and more evidence keeps coming out that Trump administration officials were involved with planning the actual coup parts (interfering with the certification of the election) and with planning of the rally.
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launching massively socially destructive psyops against huge swathes of the population, magnifying civil and political unrest
Wait, there's not actually any question about that is there?
Seriously? Congress is literally in the middle of an investigation that is quickly validating how much bullshit was slung by the likes of Clinton, Pelosi, Shiff and many others colluding for political gain regarding Russia, Russia, Russia. Many "icons" in mainstream media are now eating themselves due to peddling incessant lies. And as far as massive psyops, yup, there sure was. Antifa and BLM being handed a free legal pass and center stage every night on TV validates that. Antifa essentially dissolved
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Seriously? Congress is literally in the middle of an investigation that is quickly validating how much bullshit was slung by
Trump administration officials who we keep finding out have been lying to congress from evidence from their fucking phones, because they are not only dishonest, they are dumbfucks who don't seem to understand every phone is a spying apparatus and that cuts towards them as well as away.
What exactly is the goal today of anti-MAGA?
Branding. Are you new?
Ironically we still can't decide if that was just a mere "rally" or an "insurrection".
No, we know beyond any reasonable doubt that it was an insurrection, as it was a deliberately planned and orchestrated attempt to alter the outcome of a fair election, however pathetic and hamfisted. Inco
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What exactly is the goal today of anti-MAGA?
Branding. Are you new?
Nothing is Built. Nothing is Back. Nothing is Better. Three fucking cheers for Brandon.
Ironically we still can't decide if that was just a mere "rally" or an "insurrection".
No, we know beyond any reasonable doubt that it was an insurrection, as it was a deliberately planned and orchestrated attempt to alter the outcome of a fair election, however pathetic and hamfisted. Incompetence doesn't make it not an insurrection, it just makes it Trumpist.
And I wonder what it makes a country when an entire intelligence community ignores the shit out of that "planned and orchestrated attempt" and puts two crossing guards and a Girl Scout troop on patrol to guard the Capitol that day? Probably the same kind of liberal corruption that ignores Hunter Biden and corrupt Ukrainian ties while handing over $40 billion. Or the same kind of liberal corruption that enables a doss
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And I wonder what it makes a country when an entire intelligence community ignores the shit out of that "planned and orchestrated attempt" and puts two crossing guards and a Girl Scout troop on patrol to guard the Capitol that day?
https://www.justsecurity.org/7... [justsecurity.org]
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It hardly takes the actual Military to secure a building properly. The Capitol building turned into a fucking prison for months, with the threat essentially expiring that day. Optics my ass. We sure as hell didn't worry about "optics" when people were clinging onto to the outside of planes leaving Afghanistan, now did we?
Reeks of the same ignorance and corruption that enabled the worlds "greatest" intelligence community to immediately label any questionable actions with any Biden as "Russian disinformatio
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Yes because after all, the left-wing coup that put Mental and Incompetence in charge turned out to be SO much better...
You don't what they did a coup. You call it winning an election. But we already knew you guys can't tell the difference between election and coup, winning and losing...
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Oh, that's quite unfortunate. You think I didn't know about this happening well before anyone on TV started talking about it. Whether that means you're in on it and astroturfing, or just that oblivious... how very sad for you.
Re:But they weren't at risk of being shot at (Score:4, Interesting)
Why should I be motivated to care?
Because the ruling class (ie. politicians) has access to that data and are using it to run election campaigns. Pretty soon nobody will need actual policies, just real-time feedback on their speeches.
Now think that the people with the most access are the ones in power at any given time. It's the end of democracy.
(and that's just the first reason that come to mind... doesn't it bother you that the entire population is being subjected to dopamine-controling "apps" from the age of pre-school?)
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This happened a long time ago.
Not with the degree of fine control and realtime feedback they have today.
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Why should I be motivated to care?
Because the ruling class (ie. politicians) has access to that data and are using it to run election campaigns. Pretty soon nobody will need actual policies, just real-time feedback on their speeches.
Oh, please let this happen. Please. Real-time feedback would be a hell of a lot more accurate than fucking polls that have shaped and warped it all.
Imagine the laughter from the Vice President of the US as her hidden earpiece tells her exactly what the live audience is thinking. Hyenas would be suing on the grounds of cultural appropriation.
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Pretty soon nobody will need actual policies, just real-time feedback on their speeches.
Yep. Look at how well Trump was able to manipulate audiences with some very cheap tricks. Any word they would react to, he would simply repeat several times. Any exaggeration to which they responded, he'd double down on and exaggerate it some more. A more sophisticated audience might require more sophisticated manipulation, but essentially the same tactics will work. Instead of repeating single words, you might have to repeat whole phrases.
Biden could have used some instant feedback to tell him to stop sayi
Yay overrated! (Score:2)
When the trumpanzees mod me down, I only get more determined.
Keep it up, suckers.
the myth of dopamine controlling apps (Score:2)
More than once looked for such apps, but don't seem to find any.
I've seen studies that claim to affect dopamine -- but so does playing music among many other activities. Affecting dopamine levels isn't the same as controlling them to create some specific response. If you are thirsty, drinking water affects serotonin and dopamine levels, but they are normal responses of the body to having homeostasis restored. neurotransmitter levels are constantly being affected by life. Those who exercise also affect t
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Re:But they weren't at risk of being shot at (Score:4, Insightful)
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“The conversation the industry wants us to have is: What’s the harm?” he added. “The right conversation, the ethical conversation is: What’s the need? Why does a fourth-grader need to be tracked by a third-party vendor to learn math?”
Your other questions are good, but off topic. You also need to understand that there can be multiple issues - schools and kids who can't afford computers, and kids using software that track and sell their data. It doesn
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Stalking children (Score:2)
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Unsurpsingly Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Twitter rank highly on the lists of ad trackers.I was surprised that Cisco got mentions - I knew they were an extension of NSA but didn't know they were a scumbag adtech company.
You could read the report for yourself to see everyone involved: “How Dare They Peep into My Private Life?” - Children’s Rights Violations by Governments that Endorsed Online Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic [hrw.org]
Will Not Fix (Score:4, Insightful)
(Soon to be) illegal in the EU. (Score:2)
And this is why all those 'privacy' laws about targeting ads 'at children' (not FOR children, as someone always tries to astroturf) in the EU are being made.
If this sort of stuff doesn't bother you, then I'm not sure what to tell you.
Re: (Soon to be) illegal in the EU. (Score:2)
Not surprising it was not known until now (Score:2)
“If the school is telling you to use this app and you don’t have the knowledge that it might be recording your students’ information, that to me is a huge concern,” Rufer said.
I'm not surprised teachers did not know, they probably were struggling with how to use the software and teach. The district where I lived rolled out a bunch of software and basically said "watch the help videos and be sure to get all your students up and running..." Teachers I knew struggled to do th
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âoeIf the school is telling you to use this app and you donâ(TM)t have the knowledge that it might be recording your studentsâ(TM) information, that to me is a huge concern,â Rufer said.
[...]Things like tracking were far from anyone's mind, especially teachers who were just trying to teach.
That's the point of the article, isn't it? But while you seem to believe that the article finds fault with teachers, "the school" is really shorthand for "the school administration" because that is where the buck is supposed to stop. And someone needs to be thinking about whether children are being tracked, and whether such tracking is warranted. Not only not thinking about that but not seeing that it is not being abused is negligence.
I don't think anyone reasonable would expect the teachers to have time to
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âoeIf the school is telling you to use this app and you donâ(TM)t have the knowledge that it might be recording your studentsâ(TM) information, that to me is a huge concern,â Rufer said.
[...]Things like tracking were far from anyone's mind, especially teachers who were just trying to teach.
That's the point of the article, isn't it? But while you seem to believe that the article finds fault with teachers, "the school" is really shorthand for "the school administration" because that is where the buck is supposed to stop. And someone needs to be thinking about whether children are being tracked, and whether such tracking is warranted. Not only not thinking about that but not seeing that it is not being abused is negligence.
I don't think anyone reasonable would expect the teachers to have time to concern themselves with that issue in addition to all of the other things they have to consider, and the fact that in some cases there are literally not enough hours in the day to do all of the things they are expected to do already even according to the school administration. But I think anyone reasonably would expect someone to be sure that children's PII is not being collected and abused. The school wants to talk up this in loco parentis shit when they talk about being responsible for your kids, and then they don't want to be held responsible. What are the school administrators good for if they can't study the issue enough to know what the key issues are, and account for them?
I fully agree with you and do not blame the teachers. My experience with school administration is all they want to do is keep parents off their backs and will do whatever to accomplish that. If it means not bothering to look into, or tell parents, about tracking well, so be it. The teachers I know quit or retire because they are sick of school administration BS. Our district is now dealing with parents who are upset their "A student" kids are getting C's and blaming the teachers; will the administration
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What EULA and TOS, out of the 46 different programs pushed out to student Chromebooks over the lockdown period in my wife's district, the only ones that had any presentation of TOS/EULA whatsoever were from Google and Microsoft. Every other company presented no such thing with their software.
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I'm continually being told both here on Slashdot and elsewhere that parents are failing because they are too involved in their children's lives today, and that running wild was the best thing that ever happened to people as a child. People are forever talking about how much better their childhood was because they weren't being tracked. Which is it?
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