Google Apps for Education has recently come
Under Fire in the courts (Education Week… http://goo.gl/53UZgK)
and is perhaps inadvertently causing a maelstrom of activity as educators
struggle through the dilemma of adequately identifying and defining “data-mining”
and its impact on student privacy. Has a line been crossed? Are our students at
some type of identifiable risk? And is it all Google’s fault?
Really?!?
Data-Mining per se has, is, and will
continue to occur in varied forms or fashions simply because our world is
CONNECTED, SOCIAL, and CONVENIENT – BY AN OVERWHELMING DEMAND… As such, we, as
consumers, actually DESIRE data-mining – if not, we lose that which we have
grown to expect, especially from our world of technology. By slapping the hands
of Google, Dropbox, Apple, broadcast communication commercials in general, even
school yearbook ads, we are in essence “biting the hands that feed us.”
As a small child pushed in the cart at the
grocery store, I refused to try the fruit-flavored snacks the kind employee was
passing out as store samples. My mom sheepishly explained that I didn’t like
fruit… The “Samples Lady” never offered me fruit again and/or tried to sell my
mother on such a product (not the same response when it came to chocolate)…
Data was “mined”… Permission wasn’t
given to keep records on me, but it was stored in someone’s memory and for the
express purpose of not wasting time and knowing when a profitable sale would be
made. Was that the end of my privacy???
I remember
being a high school student and enjoying the TV we received in class by being a
Channel One school… We watched about 15 minutes of news each day that included teen
targeted ads like Doritos and Nike… Channel One has fabulously evolved into a
current events curriculum-supported concept that encourages and engages student
participation through quizzes, social media, etc. But picking apart the concept
of data-mining reveals that they too use information from our students… (http://www.channelone.com/privacy-policy/)
One of the
first storage concepts I fell in love with as an educator was Dropbox… Good
bye, flashdrives!!!! Many of our schools have encouraged students to utilize
this service personally for years. But what about protecting their privacy?!? (https://www.dropbox.com/privacy)
Then there
is our ever-popular iPad/Apple movement in education… Really? No data-mining?
Hmmmm… (http://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/)
And I once again want to point out that for the most part, we WANT them to
figure out some things for us based on our usage, what web sites we go to, our
needs for updates, etc.
Referring back
to Google and the lawsuits they are facing, the conflict seems to surround
commercial gain from educational purpose. I contend the benefits to our students,
schools, and staff and ultimately our new and improved COMMERCIAL products
stemming from the data mining far outweighs any semblance of privacy violation…
"I don't think there's another product on
the market that provides the same level of power to its users, regardless of
price," said Henry C. Thiele, the assistant superintendent for technology
and learning for the 6,800-student Maine Township High School District 207 in
Illinois.
(later in the article)
Of course, the problem extends far beyond Google,
Mr. Evans said (Cameron Evans, Microsoft's chief technology officer for education). A growing number of companies rely on "freemium"
business models in which they provide technology services to schools in
exchange for access to an increasingly comprehensive body of information about
students-including "ambient" data about where they are located, what
devices they are using, with whom they are interacting, and more.
And if
Microsoft is truly claiming that Office 365 doesn’t do the same… perhaps due to
their verbage in policy… consumers might beg to differ… compare wording… not
really “different”. http://www.microsoft.com/privacystatement/en-us/core/default.aspx?CTT=114
I don’t work
for Google (but I love my GAFE and personal Gmail though), I am a huge Microsoft fan
(have a PC and a Surface Pro with a Live account tied to my Google), can’t live without my iPad,
iPad mini, Mac Air or iPhone… And am ever thankful that I can post to Instagram
or Twitter about my recent rug purchase on Overstock and receive ads helping me
cost effectively furnish my new home!
Your turn...
Let's CommuniCATE!
