FTC order against Edmodo over children’s data collected for advertising and kept indefinitely; company had suspended US operations
According to the FTC complaint, Edmodo collected names, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and persistent identifiers from students under 13 without verifiable parental consent, used the data for advertising, and retained it indefinitely until at least 2020. Edmodo stopped operating in the US around September 2022 during the investigation. The stipulated order carries […]
High school employee’s personal laptop projects explicit images to class via classroom projector
During a class at a high school in the United States in February 2022, an employee plugged a personal computer into the classroom projector and a series of explicit images from what appeared to be an online image search were displayed, according to the superintendent. The employee was placed on leave, police were contacted, and […]
Illinois, US – Pornography Accessed on School-Issued Tablets
Students across a school district in Illinois, United States were found to have accessed pornography on school-issued tablets, indicating a filter or policy failure affecting more than one student. The report describes district-level awareness of the issue and a response focused on reviewing device security settings. Specific student ages and the scale of the exposure […]
Elementary School Student Accesses Explicit Content on School-Issued iPad
A parent reported that her 4th-grade female student accessed explicit content while using a school-issued iPad in a classroom at an elementary school. The parent stated that the devices, intended for lessons, were left accessible enough that a child could reach explicit material without deliberate searching. The school principal responded to the parent’s concerns, though […]
Family could not opt out of school digital ecosystem without educational penalty
A parent reported inability to opt out of school digital systems without educational consequences. This is a personal interview. Source available to SHIELD.
Female student forced to surrender Facebook credentials to school officials
School officials demanded that a female student surrender her Facebook login credentials during a disciplinary matter, forcing her to grant access to her private communications and digital social life. The student filed a lawsuit against the school district, which resulted in a settlement and changes to school policies.
Florida, USA – special-education student shown pornography by peers on school iPad
A mother reported that her 11-year-old son, a special-education student, was repeatedly shown pornography on a school iPad by older students during recess over a period of roughly three months in 2015. She said her son was threatened by an older student not to disclose what was happening, and that a school staff member reacted […]
EdWeek / Common Sense Media: national data on students viewing porn at school
Education Week reported on Common Sense Media’s first large-scale, demographically representative survey of US teen pornography use, which found meaningful rates of viewing during the school day and specifically on school-issued devices. The article also cites EdWeek Research Center data on the rapid growth of 1:1 school-issued device programs, particularly accelerated by pandemic-era remote learning, […]
California Family Forced to Withdraw Children From School District Over Seesaw Data Harvesting Practices
A mother and her minor children were required to use the Seesaw Platform at a public school in California, USA, which generated and collected extensive private student data. This data was subsequently shared with numerous third-party entities without parental consent. As a result of these invasive data practices, the mother was ultimately forced to withdraw […]
California – Elementary school student accesses explicit content on school iPad; district-wide review
A female second-grade student in California, United States, accessed several adult pornography videos on her school-issued iPad, which her mother discovered. The local school district’s IT department subsequently reviewed the browser history of iPads across five elementary schools and found that several other students in the same classroom had also accessed inappropriate content. A district […]