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Mass. Bill Would Put Privacy Squeeze on Cloud Apps For Schools

Posted by timothy on from the rent-seeker-vs.-rent-seeker dept.

An anonymous reader points out a story at The Register about a Microsoft-backed bill proposed by Massachusetts state representative Carlo Basil which seems aimed directly at Google's cloud apps. The bill, if it should be enacted, would require that "[a]ny person who provides a cloud computing service to an educational institution operating within the State shall process data of a student enrolled in kindergarten through twelfth grade for the sole purpose of providing the cloud computing service to the educational institution and shall not process such data for any commercial purpose, including but not limited to advertising purposes that benefit the cloud computing service provider."

8 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Corporations buy laws by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Corporations have always bought the laws they want in their favor. That's what lobbying is all about. Every now and then, the companies are even caught giving the legislators the actual text of the laws which they would like passed: Koch, Exxon Mobil Among Corporations Helping Write State Laws ...

    Microsoft used to not spend any money on political campaigns. Then, after a while, they figured out enough to post political contributions on both sides and then to hire a lobbyist to advocate for them.

    Microsoft's budget for political lobbying exceeded that of Enron

    Another older example

    Microsoft's new push in Washington - CNET News http://news.cnet.com/2010-1071_3-1021938.html

    Jun 30, 2003 Â CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh explains why the software maker has quietly given marching orders to its phalanx of lobbyists to get the government to ...

    Of course, Google couldn't be left behind

    Jan 26, 2010 -- Google quickly gaining on Microsoft in lobbying spending. Search giant is quickly catching up to Redmond as a tech power to be reckoned with in Washington ...

    It's not as if this is anything new. Industry boards have long written laws: not just outlines, not just drafts, but the entire full set and exact wording just as they want it to be. That you can search for yourself. There are thousands of examples of that.

    1. Re:Corporations buy laws by DrEldarion · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The idea of lobbying, in itself, is not bad. Corporate lobbying, even, isn't necessarily bad. Corporations are just a group of people, and they're having a small set of people bring their concerns before the government representatives. This can be done for very good things, as well - Google lobbies very heavily for a free and open internet, and has been instrumental in things like shutting down SOPA.

      The real problem comes in when less honest entities confuse "lobbying" and "bribing", and when (on purpose or by design) they confuse the lobbyist's interest with the public interest.

  2. Result WIll be Opposite of Intent by Anubis350 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Google will simply stop offering free GApps for Education for Massachusetts Schools and Non-Profits. The reason the service is free is google is counting on that data.

    Disclaimer: I am the admin for a small HS and am quite happy with our Google Apps right now

    --
    "goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
    1. Re:Result WIll be Opposite of Intent by Enforcer-99 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually Google Apps for Education already has an option not to show ads - in fact I bet 100% of Google Apps for Education domains do this already so Google does not rely on advertising for these domains as it is. GAE is about mind-share and getting them Google-ized early - just like Microsoft has done for decades.

    2. Re:Result WIll be Opposite of Intent by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Informative

      Google will simply stop offering free GApps for Education for Massachusetts Schools and Non-Profits. The reason the service is free is google is counting on that data.

      Not quite. Google Apps for Non-Profits does show ads, yes, but Google Apps for Education does not show advertisements to students or staff (it's like Google Apps Premier in that regards, except for the increase in quota). Google also goes farther than the bill, because University accounts are free of ads (not just K-12 accounts). Google only asks that once the students become alumni, that the ads get turned on by the University staff. It has always been that way since the very beginning of Google Apps.

      May be, this bill is targeted at the Kindle (or perhaps the iPad). I believe these two have made more inroads into the K-12 market than Google Apps anyway.

      1.4 Ads.
      a. Default. The default setting for the Services is one that does not allow Google to serve Ads. Customer may change this setting in the Admin Console, which constitutes Customer’s authorization for Google to serve Ads. If Customer enables the serving of Ads, it may revert to the default setting at any time and Google will cease serving Ads.
      b. Selectively Showing Ads. Notwithstanding Section 1.4(a), if Customer separates different classifications of End Users by domain or Google provides the capability for Customer to show Ads only to particular sets of End Users within the same domain, then Customer must enable the serving of Ads to End Users who are alumni.
      c. Selectively Showing Ads. If Customer chooses to separate different classifications of End Users by domain, then Customer must enable the serving of Ads to Alumni. If Google provides the capability for Customer to show Ads only to particular sets of End Users, then Customer must enable Google's serving of Ads to End Users who are not Students or Staff. http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/education_terms.html

    3. Re:Result WIll be Opposite of Intent by Hentes · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem is, in the free market you can choose whether getting free cloud services is worth your privacy or not. But the kids didn't have a say in this matter, in fact I bet you didn't even ask them whether they agree with you forwarding their data to a third party.

  3. Several thoughts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1) that ALL data format should be easily 100% convertible to open formats.
    2) that all companies shall be prevented from selling/giving OSs or educational software at lower than their normal price so as to lock-in students.
    3)

  4. The hypocrisy is palpable by walterbyrd · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bill Gates funds massive school child database

    New Gates-funded database keeps addresses and social security numbers of millions of children, so don’t worry

    But the most influential new product may be the least flashy: a $100 million database built to chart the academic paths of public school students from kindergarten through high school.

    In operation just three months, the database already holds files on millions of children identified by name, address and sometimes social security number. Learning disabilities are documented, test scores recorded, attendance noted. In some cases, the database tracks student hobbies, career goals, attitudes toward school – even homework completion

    http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/04/new-gates-funded-database-keeps-addresses-and-social-security-numbers-of-millions-of-children-so-dont-worry/

    From PJ at Groklaw:

    And Microsoft is pushing for a law in Massachusetts that would prevent Google from being used for educational use, based on alleged and vague claims of conceivable privacy issues, when Google does *not* turn on ads for kids? Are they kidding?! What hypocrisy. And what interesting timing.