Zambian students using Smart Revision platform subjected to tracking and data sharing while preparing for examinations
Smart Revision, a Zambian Ministry of General Education website offering practice tests for grades 7, 9 and 12 to prepare for national examinations, was detected by HRW sending students’ personal data to Facebook. HRW’s table lists it as having no privacy policy. The Zambian government and Smart Revision did not respond to HRW, and Facebook […]
Turkey – Students using government educational platforms were denied meaningful ability to opt out of surveillance
A teacher in Istanbul told a nine-year-old student and his mother that he had to use online platforms every day to be marked as attending school during Covid-19 closures. HRW concluded that in these countries, children could not give valid, meaningful consent to the processing of their data by government-mandated platforms, because they could not […]
Zambian students required to pay fees to access online educational materials
Zambia’s government charged students a monthly subscription fee to use its two online education websites during Covid-19 school closures. e-Learning Portal charged ZMW 5 (US$0.26) per course, with bundles priced progressively higher by grade, including a ‘Subscribe To All At K35 Only’ option (US$1.84) for grades 10 to 12 where only three subjects were offered. […]
Zambian educational platforms transmitted student data while charging access fees
Zambia’s Ministry of General Education launched two websites on April 20, 2020, e-Learning Portal (grades 7 to 12) and Smart Revision (exam practice for grades 7, 9 and 12), and required students to pay a monthly subscription fee to access them, although Zambia legally guarantees free basic education. HRW detected e-Learning Portal sending students’ personal […]
Turkish educational application gathered location data without providing a privacy policy
Eğitim Bilişim Ağı, an app developed by Turkey’s Ministry of National Education for preschool, primary and secondary students during Covid-19 school closures, has no privacy policy; its privacy policy link points back to the home page of its website, which also has none. HRW’s dynamic analysis detected students’ Android advertising IDs sent to Google through […]
Turkish parent lost ability to communicate with teacher after refusing government messaging application
A mother in Istanbul told HRW that her son’s teacher asked her to download BiP, a government-mandated messaging app for government and school use during the pandemic. She refused because she had heard the app was not secure in terms of data privacy, and told the teacher she had no space on her phone. She […]
Texas students exposed to privacy risks through inadequately protected remote learning system
An algebra teacher in Dallas, Texas, told HRW that her school district initially did not put privacy protections in place, and that teachers were using an online platform she said has no privacy protection. She said 60 to 70 percent of her students had a primary family member who had been deported or was in […]
Venezuelan students using national remote learning platform had educational data exposed to third-party tracking systems
Cada Familia Una Escuela, Venezuela’s national remote learning platform, is listed by HRW among 56 government-built or government-financed educational products found transmitting children’s data to advertising technology companies. HRW’s table shows it has no privacy policy.
Nine-year-old student subjected to location tracking and behavioral profiling through compulsory online schooling
A nine-year-old student in Istanbul and his mother told HRW that his teacher required him to use online learning platforms every day to be marked as attending school during Covid-19 closures. HRW’s opening account of his school day describes tracking technologies on his school’s online learning platform, including location tracking, advertising technology companies receiving information […]
Turkish child required to create social media account for schoolwork despite age restrictions
A mother in Istanbul told HRW that her son’s teacher required all of the 8-year-old students in the class to use Facebook, and made her son open an account at age 8 to upload his homework. She said the teacher was now requiring Facebook for tests. Facebook’s terms of service prohibit children under 13 from […]