Google Sued for Data-Mining Kids' Emails

Khaliah Barnes, a lawyer with EPIC, a Washington-based advocacy group said the case was highly troubling and likely to ignite concern that our children’s right to privacy is at risk.

“This should draw the attention of the U.S. Department of Education, the Federal Trade Commission, and state legislatures. Student privacy is under attack,” he said.

Likewise, Peg Tyre, director of strategy at Edwin Gould Foundation, which advocates for better public schools in New York, expressed her concern that students’ educational data should not be used for commercial purposes.

“Education needs to be a safe space,” she said. “If schools walk into this and aren’t fully aware that Chromebooks that google ddonated’ to kids in the 9th grade are collecting data on those kids—and parents find out— you are going to see a flash over of negativity— and a ton of pushback — on the part of parents.”

Google was able to gain access to student emails following revised regulations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by the Education Department, which weakened this primary legislation guarding student privacy law. It has been argued that Google’s practices violated FERPA and contravened the Education Departments ” best practices” for online educational service providers.

The plaintiffs are seeking financial compensation for millions of Gmail users for the breach of privacy as well as calling upon Google for greater transparency with respect to its data-mining practices.