An education company’s cost of a data breach can be $300 per compromised record, making it one of the most costly industries for lost or stolen records.
Working with school districts, Common Sense Media is developing a rubric to evaluate ed-tech products’ compliance with relevant privacy and security laws and practices.
Whether it’s about student-data-privacy concerns or diversity among developers of ed-tech products, experts say schools have the power to change how businesses operate.
Federal officials have published model “terms of service” to help guide districts on what privacy policies to demand from vendors.
Jules Polonetsky, executive director of the Future of Privacy Forum, spoke to Education Week about the challenges industry faces in complying with state and district data-privacy laws.
A draft measure being circulated on Capitol Hill would bar ed-tech vendors from directing targeted advertisements to students, though it does not cover some controversial practices.
Companies signing a student-data privacy pledge could be subject to federal or state enforcement actions if they don’t live up to their word.
Google has signed a pledge to protect student data privacy, after the company had initially not agreed to make the public commitment.
Ed-tech companies have voiced concerns that the president’s data-privacy blueprint could derail innovation in the digital space.
President Barack Obama envisions a federal law modeled on a California measure that placed new safeguards on protecting student information.