Google snoops on kids via Chromebooks, claims EFF in FTC filing

School IT .....

Whatever happened to the idea of a staff member at the school actually checking / modifying security settings on any kit they buy? (Not to mention adding additional lock down depending on local needs)

If there is nobody capable of doing that - then maybe the school should not be buying computers in the first place.

that name

was it Google or EFF that came up with GAFE (and who does it apply to)?

Call me stupid but has anything actually ever come from these "FTC" filings?

Yes but the Chromebook costs $99

if you buy it in the right place, and I have the fun knowledge that the NSA(KGB?) Tailored Access Implant is mostly monitoring a younger relative's 24h/day secret communication with steganography via Death Metal uTub videos. {Allusondrugs, Baby, Godzilla, Babymetal, Beartooth, Brawlers, Code_Orange, Coldrain, Crossfaith, Dead_Harts, King_810, Marmozets, Neck+Deep, Nothing_More, Pup, 5_Seconds_Of_Summer, A_Day_To_Remember, A_Lot_Like_Birds, Ac/Dc, Adolescents, Aerosmith, Afi, Alesana, Alice_Cooper, Alice_In_Chains, Alkaline_Trio, All_Time_Low, Anthrax, Arcade_Fire, Ariana_Grande, As_It_Is, Asking_Alexandria, Atreyu, Attila, August_Burns_Red, Avenged_Sevenfold, Babymetal, Bad_Religion, Bayside, Beartooth. . . Wu-Tang_Clan, Twenty_One_Pilots etc}

The alternative was to buy a cheap refurb MacBook Air but that was £400 more!

hope the NSA(KGB?) like some of the groups

It's a Chromebook. That's how they work.

If you have several dozen Chromebooks and you don't want to have to track which 7-year-old used which machine last time around, the only way to be sure that they can work on something two lessons in a row is for the software to store the documents somewhere other than the local machine. The default sync point cannot be "my school's server" because Google haven't a clue who you are.

There probably isn't an option to enable the use of a local server. My experience of Chromebooks (and I'm typing on one) is that the Googly version of Linux doesn't even have SMB support in the kernel. It just isn't their target use-model. (There are work-arounds, but it is easier just to bung a real Linux on the machine instead and if you know as much about Linux as most teachers then that's quite enough to dissuade you!)

Assuming there isn't such an option, the EFF might have a legitimate point if that's what they are complaining about. However, it doesn't sound like that *is* what they are complaining about.

Oh the horror

Google might actually also help children find things relevant to their interests! To arms! Unleash the hounds! Contact your local PTA and demand that they have a meeting about possibly forming a committee to mull sending a letter to somebody someday.

I Demand an IAAC setting.

Rather like DNT, Do Not Track, but this one is an I Am A Child... fuck off and do not try to sell me My Little Pony/Transformer Socks or link me to my Parents as an 'outlier' to do the same.

That's got to work.

Good move by the EFF reporting to the FTC ...

... as the FTC is stack full of Google appointees so nothing will come of it, and the EFF gets to claim that they are fearless in biting the hand that feeds it.

<no catchy title>

So many paths crossing lately - El Reg ran a story 'Kids' tech skills go backwards thanks to tablets and smartmobes' a few weeks ago and I said then that my local school district was using tablets and chromebooks to replace paper, pencil, and textbooks - not really addressing 'digital' literacy.

I've been bitching for a while now about it because of serious concerns I have about the loss of certain aspects of my kids education due to the total reliance on electronic gadgets and huge issue with their privacy via Google. Appreciate El Reg for giving me another stick to use at the next school board meeting.

;)

I thought the idea was syncing back to the server allows the admin/google to see how kids got to unfiltered porn and other not-safe-for-work material.

Google - the outsourced arm of the NSA

Fact.

Really?

"This allows Google to track, store on its servers, and data mine for non-advertising purposes, records of every internet site students visit, every search term they use, the results they click on, videos they look for and watch on YouTube, and their saved passwords."

Every search term, every result and every youtube video - all of those are under Google's control at the other end so of course they can monitor them...

Most sites nowadays are accessed through a search, so every site is only a small extension of that...

Saved passwords - shock horror, not quite sure that they have the time or inclination to find an individual 7 years old's password to an educational games site....

Yes - the settings should be off by default, or at least be presented on a first boot/account creation basis...

Thought control

Are students at risk of getting a NSA file if they write about controversial subjects? This might jeopardize a possible future career in the government or trouble at airports.

Why I always say, if you get a Chromebrick, format and install a real Linux distro.