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Protecting Students' Ideas:
Google Stops Spying on Students
By: Akshay Pall
As time goes on, schools are investing more and more funds into upgrading and maintaining technology infrastructures used by students. However, these investments cut funding from other aspects of school life, such as sports. This is where freeware, from companies such as Google, come in and save the day. The Mountain-View giant offers many high-quality services and products for the low cost of $0. However, nothing in the world is free.
Companies that offer free-software, such as Google, usually generate revenue by collecting information on the user through traceable activities, such as web history and social network usage. These companies then take that information and, in Google’s case, use it to better define the target audience for advertisements. Advertisements are then more likely to be clicked by consumers and, in turn, companie, such as Google, are able to charge a premium over the competition for advertising another company’s product.
Due to the recent formation of a bill banning the use of student data for commercial purposes (e.g. advertising) and increased competition from Microsoft (as no ads are present on Bing and other Microsoft products for education), Google has ceased the scanning of students’ emails for advertising purposes. Google has also been accused of violating (US) federal wiretap and privacy laws for schools where students were under 18 (under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974).
However, Google has not stated whether or not they will stop collecting other forms of data, leading to many concerned students, teachers, and other school staff questioning the privacy of students’ ideas. This issue is further exacerbated by the fact that Google is rolling out Google Classroom, a service for classrooms to essentially move and manage all course assignments online and on the cloud.
With a great new service being offered for free, why would any classroom choose to continue to pay for private services that offer the same (or less) features? The switch that many educational institutes will make to Google’s online classroom service will inevitably lead to a massive surge in information for Google to use for unstated purposes. A concern over academic privacy is now present as the company may monitor the quality of work being outputted by students when interviewing them later on for potential jobs.
“I’d probably be most upset by the fact that anything that I have searched up, could be held against me in any scenario, granted google discloses my information. I don’t mind having google keeping logs of my history, I don’t do anything radical, and it would just be filled up with either research or movies/lists on IMDB. But one thing that is unsettling would be leaving my account logged in, and if someone were to search incredibly radical things (like a pdf of Mein Kampf or something of that nature). I don’t think Turner Fenton should move its classrooms onto Google's new cloud services simply because I’m against using the computer as the primary source of learning. Personally, I find the mouse and keyboard incredibly distracting, I feel that it would take a toll on my productivity. One of the main reasons I stick to pen and paper is so I don’t get caught up playing games and messaging people on Facebook while I’m supposed to do my homework. The entire argument of privacy doesn’t really affect me that much when it comes to deciding to use the services, it’s rather productivity and efficiency.”
- Kapil Billimoria, Grade 10 Student
Although concerns over stealing ideas are minimal with Google, this is not the case with many other organizations, more specifically, universities. Some universities require students to allow the institutions the right to take their ideas and work. Students are usually oblivious to this as few pay attention to the paperwork involved in accepting an offer of admission from a school.
One example of this was NASA intern and graduate student at MIT, Erez Lieberman, who had an algorithm for checking if a person was standing correctly or off balance. MIT patented his idea and then charged him $75k just to use his own invention in the products of a company that he was planning to start up. Another, although slightly different, case is one that affects Turner Fenton directly: the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) has permission to use students’ assignments for testing purposes. However, students still retain the copyright for the work they have submitted.
The increased use in technology may result in schools being able to take ownership of students’ creations faster than before. It will also make it harder for students to hide any scholarly work that they wish not to share. There are schools, such as the University of Waterloo, which give back to students by offering shared revenues for students if their work is commercialized, however, these schools are as scarce as a hen’s teeth.
With little to no solutions for the plethora of issues plaguing the continued implementation of online services, the future of students’ freedoms, rights, and ideas is unpredictable. All of these issues also beg the age-old question of whether schools and other educational institutions operate with the betterment of students, or themselves, in mind.
One school in Houston has staved dealing with privacy issues by not allowing students to use Google’s educational apps in school
“We have to come together as educational entities and say to vendors that certain privacy protections are non-negotiable, and we won’t do business with you until they are in place,”
- Lenny Scad, CTO of Houston’s Independent School District, via Education Week.
QUESTION: Google has recently announced a new initiative towards moving the classroom to the cloud. However, this means that Google will also be able to keep logs of all the actions you have taken as a student. Does this worry you? IF so, what are you most upset by: increased checking over work (for plagiarism, etc.), the potential stealing of ideas, or the general lack of privacy around what you may consider private affairs? Do you believe Turner Fenton should take advantage of Google’s new services even if they compromise privacy or are you willing to sacrifice funds elsewhere for privately made services?
“This is a bit long so I'm going to try and keep it concise, but in my opinion, I think Google making the move from classroom to cloud is a great idea! Even if Google is able to keep logs of all the actions we've taken, it won't necessarily matter, since most of our actions as students are recorded in the school database (maybe not so much, but you see what I'm trying to say). It honestly doesn't worry me at all. The increase in plagiarism check doesn't affect me since well, I don't plagiarise. The potential of stolen ideas isn't all that great either since your work will only be visible to your own self. One could argue that the ownership of account may get compromised, but there are ways that Google could help prevent that, for example, setting a secondary password to access your documents and etc. If there were any privacy issues, I would say that the current system we run on may be less secure than the cloud. Provided, I have no knowledge on what Google's cloud's security is like, but I can say from past experiences that your ideas are more susceptible theft in the classroom. (hide yo notes, hide yo papers). I believe that Turner Fenton should take the liberty of having this Google cloud system, if it ever were to exist, because Google has an amazing reputation and a better background in their field than any other competitor out there (Bing never stood a chance). And no, I will not pay (not once, not ever) for a private service.”
- Lahiru Atapattu, Grade 10 Student
“I am not generally upset with this, seeing as Google already knows everything I do in private and I don't see how a more solid system could hurt anyone. I think the free version should be used because Google only uses the data to make themselves better and create the next big thing. I also trust Google with my private life way more than any Peel employee.”
- Sikem Nkwawir, Grade 10 Student