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EFF Says Google Chromebooks Are Still Spying On Students (softpedia.com)
schwit1 quotes a report from Softpedia: In the past two years since a formal complaint was made against Google, not much has changed in the way they handle this. Google still hasn't shed its "bad guy" clothes when it comes to the data it collects on underage students. In fact, the Electronic Frontier Foundation says the company continues to massively collect and store information on children without their consent or their parents'. Not even school administrators fully understand the extent of this operation, the EFF says. According to the latest status report from the EFF, Google is still up to no good, trying to eliminate students privacy without their parents notice or consent and "without a real choice to opt out." This, they say, is done via the Chromebooks Google is selling to schools across the United States.
I mean, either this is illegal and they should be, or this is perfectly legal, then the complaint has no merit. Which one is it?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
It seems they're contesting that the surveillance Google's operating system is conducting constitutes a non-consensual search. In the context of children being provided a resource that is data-mining their behaviors without their parents mandatory legal consent, it's a very clever point to try and burst that bubble. I think they might should win, too. What Microsoft, Google, and Apple are all doing with their operating systems to survey their users, it might be rightly argued it's crossed into the realm of an unlawful form of surveillance.
Take a look at Android, it's a very scammy surveillance OS.
1. Your location is transmitted to Google, together with surrounding wifi settings. They do this with a popup that appears whenever you turn on GPS, it asks you if you want to improve location accuracy, in actuality it's tracking the surrounding wifi spots and matching them against the GPS location your phone records. The dialog is written so you think you need to say yes to get GPS to work, but you can say no and GPS still works.
It always appears, all the time, until you say yes, and then it doesn't popup again, quietly tracking your location and watching your nearby wifi hotspots.
You cannot say 'no, never' the dialog will keep pestering.
2. Google Play Store, if you try to disable or remove this, it will remove every app you installed from the playstore at the same time. Google play store provides Google with your credit card linkage, and real id, to the location and search surveillance it does.
3. You cannot remove the required google account and keep the apps you installed.
4. Android now INSISTS on a telephone number for Android device registrations.
5. Google changes the privacy terms frequently, it popups says "action required" and if you refuse to say yes to whatever privacy invasion they've introduced, the alternate options are to delete your Google account (and uninstall every app you installed, see 2). This is false, you can simply ignore the demand to accept the change of terms.
6. Did you agree to backup the phone? That pester message that pops up regularly that you can't tell "no never' to? You just gave Google the password to every wifi network and business server you ever used. Compromising a lot of data.
They present a set of information in a privacy dashboard that is a tiny subset of the information they actually record. All pages visited with Google stats and Google adverts, and Google content served are also known to them and recorded by them. Your Youtube viewing is recorded even when logged out using browser profile id. Same with Google search, it persters you to login, but if you don't they still record the searches you make against the browser id to cross link for when you eventually do login.
Really, Duckduckgo for search and avoid them like the plague and they'll still have a mass of tracking information on you. You cannot opt out of this, they present it as the price for having an Android device.
Google are surveillance-ware shit.
We live in the Surveillance Age now. For better or worse we must expect each and every action we make to be recorded and watched. We must expect each and every word to say to be recorded and listened to. We must expect our existence to be constantly observed and analyzed. This will not stop. Ever. There is no way out. Anyone trying to avoid surveillance is automatically marked a "person of interest". You don't want to be on a blacklist, do you? Gotta work to eat.
Meanwhile, Google has blocked mp3 search. Go ahead, type filetype:mp3 anything and see for yourself.
Google used to have a good image in my opinion. Their slogan "Don't be evil" rang true for many people. But Google is just like any other corporation, now: They're all about the money. It's too bad the world and people in it don't reward responsibility and Google is actually just fitting into their stupidity and apathy. That being said, I hope Google suffers horribly for this, especially concerning minors. Then again, if parents are too stupid and lazy to care, to hell with their kids, who are pretty much younger versions of themselves. Screw the children now as if their future selves deserve it. For shame!
Don't use Chromebooks. It's as though it's the only option, and it isn't.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
It is a one-way business relationship in which Alphabet monetizes user data and gets the money, and the people who purchase Chromebooks or use Chrome browser, get the business.
That's what you get with cloud computing. No privacy or control.
Microsoft is still busy trying to catch up.. Number of users is no longer the main factor for measuring worth. Instead it's all about how much information you can get from them.
They run Chrome OS. Basically an extension of Google into your lap. Like android phones are a extension of Google into your hands and pockets.
Complaining that Google is observing it's users is like complaining that water is wet. Observing users is Googles freakin business model, that's what they earn money with. That's why you get all the neat stuff including cloud storage basically for free. This is also the reason Google is not another MS or Apple. They are a different league. They don't care what your device costs and which software it runs, as long as you use Google. Plain and simple.
And because of this, Google could offer services for minors no other company could. Like, for instance, warning parents when the child is communicating with a person that is obviously an unknown middle-aged man posing as a teenager.
I guess the EFF get's the Captain Obvious Award for stating that Google observes it's users. ... Allthough I do like them basically doing public education on the matter - probably needed in the US I presume.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
There are no specific examples of what issues the data collection has created. A Google account is required. Anything entered when setting up the account is used to identify the student so if their Chromebook breaks, they can be assigned another one, login, and be up and running rather quickly. Homework is stored in Google's cloud and checked there by the student's teachers. This story seems like FUD being spread to get schools and parents worried about something that should be of no concern, just as Microsoft is releasing their new Windows Cloud Chromebook competitors. The timing may not be coincidental.
You can thank Apple and the government for that. Apple did (does?) exactly this to develop their initial WiFi map data. They rolled out an update which collected location and nearby WiFi SSID data from people's iPhones and uploaded it to Apple, and buried the fact that they were doing it in the iTunes installation process. Once they got this data by using every iPhone owner as an unpaid hotspot locator, they dumped the Skyhook WiFi map they had been licensing.
Google developed their WiFi map by adding WiFi SSID sniffers to the cars they were driving around the world to take Street View pictures for Google Maps. Someone at the EU claimed they were recording more than just SSID. Google said that was ridiculous, self-audited their collection software, found a developer's setting hadn't been turned off and that they had beent collecting more than just SSID, and self-reported themselves to the EU. The EU and US governments promptly sued and fined them for it. Apple OTOH got off scott free. So Google stopped collecting the WiFi SSID location data collection themselves, and just copied what Apple was doing - lifting the data straight from people's phones.
So maybe they should be like Apple and make it impossible to remove the Play Store?
At least they give you the option to not use the Google Play Store if you don't want to use it. You can use an alternate store like Amazon. Or if you're really paranoid you can just sideload everything directly from your PC. Good luck doing that with the competitors.
Well duh. Without the Google account, the apps have no way of knowing if they were installed after being legitimately purchased, or if they were pirated. The Achilles heel of online software distribution is confirmation of licensing. Either Google does it, with the side-effect that removing the Google account disables the apps. Or every app developer out there including the one-person shops has to run, operate, and maintain their own licensing server 24/7/365.
? My Android tablet didn't. You sure this isn't something the cellular carriers have added to Android phones?
Everyone does this. Google is the only one who lets you see what they've collected on you, and gives you the option to delete it if you wish.
I know they are affordable, but do parents and school boards understand their students' info is being collected and used who knows how?
why are they raising this complaint again just as Microsoft 'leaks' details of their Win 10 Cloud 'Chromebook Competitor'? I'm sure any effort by MS to provide a lightweight browser-based OS/laptop will be just as nefarious as a Chromebook, but honestly, the Chromebook does what it does perfectly, and MS only knows how to bloat things up and make them unusable.
This is a nice reminder of who and what the REAL threat is. Windows 10 data collection is not the problem. Microsoft doesn't define it's existence on profiling and targeting people, but Google does.
Microsoft doesn't do it because they can't make a cell phone that people want to buy, to save their lives.
It's not like they haven't tried, many times, including buying most of a company that was capable of making cell phones, only to have the parts drift through their fingers, like sand at a beach.
Microsoft would definitely do it if they could work it out, or buy a company that doesn't dissolve as a result of being bought by them.
I mean, either this is illegal and they should be, or this is perfectly legal, then the complaint has no merit. Which one is it?
Does this have to be limited to only the two possibilities you suggest? Here are three more
* legal, but annoying
* legal, but unethical
* legal, but because case law has not been found that applies to it yet. That is, it's untested
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I trust Google more than Apple or Microsoft. No majors hacks...yet.
I just read the EFF status report linked from TFA and the summary. I'm usually a big fan of the EFF and what they do, but this status report seems completely devoid of actual privacy violations.
Section 1 (which is most of the status report) is "survey results". They sent out a survey saying "do you completely understand you child's school's privacy policy", and unsurprisingly almost nobody does. Which is a problem, but not a privacy problem. If you asked most people "do you completely understand all of the subsections of your mortgage or lease", they would also not have a clue, but that doesn't mean that all landlords or mortgage companies are screwing people over (beyond the usual power-imbalance issues which we all understand).
Section 2 is "Legal Analysis" which has sections like "Potential Violations of the Pledge". It mentions a lot of potential problems, but doesn't go into details of any actual violations.
Section 3 is "Recommendations", which also doesn't seem to detail actual problems.
EFF, if Google is doing something with student information which is underhanded, just tell us. Don't spread FUD without any evidence.
Microsoft makes their money in commercial software and services all other experiments notwithstanding. Google make some money advertising to people and building profiles and people to better Target than advertising all the other experiments notwithstanding. Can you see the difference?
Not really, no. Sorry.
Microsoft makes really complete profiles on individual persons.
Google makes really complete profiles in aggregate for demographic markets.
Microsoft makes business decisions based on profile data telling them how many people they can reach with a given product.
Google makes business decisions based on profile data telling them the size of each demographic their advertiser can reach with their product.
Microsoft makes a lot of products that fail, when they try to do something new.
Google makes a lot of software and services with the intent of delivering advertising that fail, when they try something new.
Microsoft makes a lot of money, when they stick to their core competencies (a small range of OS and office productivity products).
Google makes a lot of money when they stick to their core competencies (a small range of advertising services, search, and mail).
Microsoft loses money when they step outside their core competency, and try "charge for service" models.
Google loses money when they step outside their core competency, and try "charge for service" models.
Kinda not seeing the difference, Bruno...
The real problem is the school administrators loading all of the student's personal information into the devices, using poor privacy and security practices, not taking the time to understand what they were doing with the Chromebooks, and then blaming Google. Read the article. Here's a quote that sticks out:
"schools had mass-enrolled their kids into Google email accounts, using their full names. Furthermore, they posted photos of them on social media sites and enrolled them into other services that collect data without any notification. To make matters worse, the passwords students are assigned are easy to guess, featuring their birthdays or student ID numbers, which makes them extremely easy to guess. Students are also prohibited from changing their passwords."
Those are all actions and policies undertaken by the school administration. It has nothing to do with Google, except that Google provided them with low-cost (or often free) devices for the students.