International Journalism, Topic "B"

Online education puts students' privacy at risk

Millions of students have their personal data and behavior tracked. Getty

A new report revealed that millions of students who participated in virtual learning during the “Covid-19” pandemic, their personal data and behavior were tracked by others online, through educational applications and websites without their consent or knowledge, and in many cases this data was shared with technology companies. belonging to third parties.

This week, Human Rights Watch published the results of an Education Services investigation conducted from March 2021 to August 2021, which included online learning tools that students around the world used when school districts switched to distance learning.

Of the 164 educational products reviewed in 49 countries, Human Rights Watch found that 146 (89%) of these products were shared through practices that violate children's rights.

These practices included monitoring or facilitating the monitoring of children without the consent of students or parents, and the collection of personal data, according to the report, such as students' online hobbies, locations, activities and behaviors, and information about their families.

“Kids, parents, and teachers were largely kept in the dark,” said Hye Jung Han, children’s rights and technology researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But even if they knew what was going on, they had no choice. Children must either use these products and pay for their privacy, or miss school during the (Covid-19) pandemic.”

Han believes that most of the apps and websites Human Rights Watch examined sent information about children to Google and Facebook, which collectively dominate the digital advertising market.

A spokesperson for Meta or Facebook says the company has policies about how companies share children's data and advertising restrictions on how they target minors.

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