EFF losing credibility
I remember when EFF were a rather credible and respected organisation but they increasingly seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel and engaging in sensationalist hyperbole these days.
Google has been collecting data from schoolchildren as young as seven years of age, according to a complaint filed with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), despite the Chocolate Factory's legally enforceable commitment to refrain from such activities. The EFF, which launched its " …
"Indeed, I hope Google sue their ass for libel, along with anyone else peddling this horseshit."
Apparently you are unaware that "truth" is an absolute defense against libel.
"You can bet its either Microsoft or apple behind the scenes on this, both badly getting reamed on lost sales."
Apparently you are unaware that "truth" is an absolute defense against this kind of bullshit too.
To be fair, they also provided two handy guides for disabling tracking features on the Chromebook and Google accounts.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/guide-chromebook-privacy-settings-students
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/11/guide-google-account-privacy-settings-students
Perfect because I got a $99 Black Friday Chromebook and was wondering what to disable once I boot it up. Now I know.
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.
Whatever happened to the idea of a staff member at the school actually checking / modifying security settings on any kit they buy?
In my experience, schools do not have well-funded IT departments. In fact, IT tends to be handled at the district level with purchases being handled at the individual schools. This is not the best of starting points.
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
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.
but this one is an I Am A Child...That's got to work.
You don't think it'd be read IAAC...groom me?
How about we just ban creepy data collection by stalker companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook for people of all ages? If their business model curls up and dies, we could just remember that the world worked perfectly well without these companies and their "free" services?
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.
;)
"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...