Privacy (or loss of privacy) Online: Is educational data an especially sensitive issue?

“Gates-backed inBloom winding down after non-profit faces concerns over privacy” (Geekwire, April 2014). inBloom, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corp of NY, an student data management company with a cloud-database  (run by Amazon) to help districts and teachers use educational data to potentiate more personalized learning, was closed today (April 23^rd). In the beginning of 2013 a big fuss arose against inBloom, which has turned into a legal suit and the withdrawal of several US states. inBloom declared its plans to share the data with non-profit as well as for-profit vendors with state and district consent. “Parents, teachers, advocacy groups and privacy experts throughout the country have protested this unprecedented plan to share children’s sensitive information with private corporations and for-profit vendors … groups have pointed out that a breach of this highly sensitive information, or its inappropriate use, could put children’s safety at risk” (WNYC July 2013).

2013 and 2014 are filled with striking headlines about online privacy concerns and the use and trade of individual information without consent. “Google goes to court over Gmail scanning” (The Telegraph, Sept. 2013), “Facebook sued for scanning ‘private’ messages for profit” (Wired, Jan. 2014), “LinkedIn is breaking into user emails, spamming contacts – lawsuit” (GigaOm, Sept. 2013), “We have sensors that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person” (Edward Snowden, 2013), “Did you know that your ‘likes’ in Facebook could expose intimate details about you as well as personality traits you might not want to share with anyone?”.  Not less dramatic are the headlines affecting the educational world as the massive 2013 cyber-attack in California involving its universities, or the recent recognition by Google that it does data mine student emails for ad-targeting purposes in its Google Apps for Education. At the same time there is a significant increase in investments and products (massive flood of educational apps becoming a major learning resource) based on Big Data systems in educational settings which raised a red alert in the entire educational community. Teachers and parents are worried about the use and misuse of students’ data. “Student Data is the New Oil”[i] is a statement gaining popularity among the educational media. MindCET latest Snapshot shows that teachers and students are specially concern about the use by the Educational System of students’ data even if it is to improve learning (http://localhost/old-mindcet/en/report/big-data-education-2/).

On the other hand, the undeniable benefits of the ever growing, and invasive, digital world for all of us as digital users, and for the entire educational community, creates a state of uneasiness and doubt! We are constantly “agreeing” with any online service “Terms and Conditions” whenever we want to use it, without really reading it. Are we unaware, comfortably blind, or compliant with the use of data online? How much online privacy can we realistic expect? Are we only concerned with privacy when directly asked about it? Aren’t students constantly using mobile apps and social networks that share all their personal data? Is educational data a different and more sensitive issue?