Some of us do teach our kids and they just don't care, I guess. My oldest (17) has had a smartphone for a few years. She knows what not to do on social media. Does it anyway. That pretty well tracks with the rest of her (mostly) poor decisions. What can I say? She's ...Consistent. ‍️

It might seem like a foregone conclusion to some, but really it isn't. I guess these companies have the same type of TOS that nobody reads, the schools just sign them, and there's no regulations holding either party back.

Schools pay for the services directly or may request federal grant funding to cover the costs.

Originally intended to support students’ mental health and prevent adverse school events, such as school shootings, the study found that school-based online surveillance companies are extensively monitoring students’ digital behavior, both during and outside of school hours, often using artificial intelligence (AI) with little human oversight or transparency.

The research team identified 14 companies actively marketing online surveillance services frequently beyond school-issued devices and outside of school premises, raising concerns about privacy, equity and oversight

86% of companies monitor students 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, not just during school hours.

It's like using a fishy mental health app that sells All Your Data to the highest bidder. Except with minors who didn't even make the decision to install that app themselves.

Wow, where do I start with how insane this is?

Those aren't 'services', those are personal privacy intrusions. For PROFIT. There is no way this could happen without the school's cooperation. AFTER they got the parent's permission, that's not good enough. They ought not only to have that permission (not to mention spelling it out for each student), but also know exactly what data is gathered, every place it is sent to, what privacy protections are in place, and what is done with it once it's "evaluated", In detail, per student, 24/7.

"student communications monitoring" 24-7 and/or outside of school is SPYING. There is NO legal OR educational OR ethical mandate for this collecting.

If the kids don't know about unknown adults prying into their personal lives, AND KEEPING RECORDS ABOUT IT, that's not necessarily their fault. If the parents don't know about it, that's the school's fault for not getting their knowing permission. AND guarantee their physical and mental safety. (Which is impossible, because as we hear about all the time, hospitals, banks, companies, etc. are constantly leaking personal information or getting hit by ransomware attacks.

If I was the parent of one of those students and wasn't told about it, I'd sue that school into a coma.

No way. Someone is looking into an open window. Wow.

"But think of the children!"

I'm keeping my kiddos phones locked down until they start paying their own bills.

That's going to be the strategy with our next two.

Monitor students digital behavior?

Just don't use accounts the school knows about....how hard is that? Don't use the shitty equipment they give you because it's loaded with spyware, haw hard is that.

Maybe students need to stop using tech and start learning how it works like we did

Just don't use accounts the school knows about....how hard is that? Don't use the shitty equipment they give you because it's loaded with spyware, haw hard is that.

From the article (emphasis mine):

The research team identified 14 companies actively marketing online surveillance services frequently beyond school-issued devices and outside of school premises, raising concerns about privacy, equity and oversight

Sounds like they’re using heavier tracking than simple device tracking. Probably lots of fingerprinting, which can be extremely hard to avoid; If any of your accounts even touch the same network as the school device, they likely track it.

Except with minors who didn't even make the decision to install that app themselves.

and who cannot refuse to have it installed on devices they are required to use

Kids should just stop being poor! Stupid kids.

What the fuck weird person?

How long did it take you to get to grips with tech, privacy, protecting yourself etc.? And you did not use it before then?