Class Action Accuses PowerSchool of ‘Extreme Invasion’ of Student Privacy Via Naviance Platform

Q.J. et al. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC et al.

A proposed class action alleges education-tech company PowerSchool Holdings and several others have caused millions of students nationwide to hand over their data without their knowledge or consent through the Naviance online platform, which is allegedly rife with third-party codes used to intercept, track and disclose student data. 

The 70-page complaint alleges PowerSchool, data analytics firm Heap and software provider Hobsons have “surreptitiously intercepted, monitored, captured and recorded” the actions, interactions and communications of students using the Naviance platform “without probable cause or reasonable suspicion,” in violation of the United States Constitution.

Further, the suit alleges the Chicago Board of Education, on a local level, has “let the students down” and breached its privacy responsibilities by capturing and disseminating their data, including sensitive school records, without consent. 

“While Defendants PowerSchool Holdings and Hobsons have long claimed in various different ways that they value students’ privacy, that is not, and has not been, the case.” 

According to the case, more than 80 percent of all K-12 students in the United States and Canada use PowerSchool products such as Naviance. Per the suit, PowerSchool serves more than 90 of the top 100 school districts by enrollment nationwide, with the Naviance platform touted as the leading program to equip students of all ages with necessary career and life readiness skills...

Class Action Accuses PowerSchool of ‘Extreme Invasion’ of Student Privacy Via Naviance Platform

Wheaton HS Wrestling Students Punished for Actions of MCPS Administrators and Coach

MPSSAA Appeals Committee Letter to Wheaton High School Principal:

Dear Mr. Munsey:

On Monday, February 13, 2023, MPSSAA Appeals Committee held a hearing to review your appeal of the penalties imposed upon your school’s wrestling team in the recent case involving the use of an ineligible player.    

Mr. Andy Warner, MPSSAA Executive Director, provided opening comments and documents for the committee.  The committee then heard testimony from Dr. Jeff Sullivan, Director, Systemwide Athletics, Montgomery County Public Schools and from yourself and two parents.    

After careful consideration and discussion of the details of this incident, the committee voted to uphold the COMAR 13A.06.03.05A(1)(a) and (b) penalties of declaring a forfeit of all games in which there was a violation and declaring the team not eligible for championship honors for the current school year, imposed by MCPS.  The committee determined that there was sufficient evidence that not only were your coaches promoting a culture in which sportsmanship and fair play takes a back seat to winning but there was also evidence that the members of the team knew that the athlete was not eligible to be on the team.  There was also evidence that your school failed to notice that a student mentioned in its social media accounts as winning a tournament was not an MCPS student.  The committee determined that the severity of the violation justifies the penalty imposed. While wrestling does pose a unique situation due to it being both a team and individual sport, the whole team shall be held accountable just as with any other sport where team members are not able to play in the post-season due to a violation. 

In accordance with COMAR 13A.06.03.05D(9), a member MPSSAA school, student or coach may appeal the decision of the MPSSAA Appeals committee to the State Superintendent of Schools within 30 days after the receipt of the Appeals Committee decision.  The State Superintendent of Schools, upon examination of the facts, may, in his or her discretion, allow the appeal and appoint a special committee of three local school superintendents of schools to hear the appeal.  The committee of superintendents may deny or uphold the appeal or modify the penalty.      

Sincerely,   

Kevin C. Hook, JD  

MPSSAA Appeals Committee Representative, District IV  

Cc:  Mr. R Andrew Warner, Executive Director of the MPSSAA  

Dr. Jeffrey Sullivan, Director of Systemwide Athletics  

Your kids’ apps are spying on them

Imagine if a stranger parked in front of a child’s bedroom window to peep inside. You’d call the police. Yet that happens every day online, and Big Tech looks the other way. 

 Apps are spying on our kids at a scale that should shock you. More than two-thirds of the 1,000 most popular iPhone apps likely to be used by children collect and send their personal information out to the advertising industry, according to a major new study shared with me by fraud and compliance software company Pixalate. On Android, 79 percent of popular kids apps do the same. 

 Angry Birds 2 snoops when kids use it. So do Candy Crush Saga and apps for coloring and doing math homework. They’re grabbing kids’ general locations and other identifying information and sending it to companies that can track their interests, predict what they might want to buy or even sell their information to others. 

Apple and Google run the app stores, so what are they doing about it? 

Enabling it... 

  https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/09/apps-kids-privacy/

Montgomery County parents petition MCPS and Maryland Attorney General to stop the mining of MCPS students' personal information for race-based profiling and advertising by private vendors.

Following reports by The Markup, Montgomery County parents petition MCPS and Maryland Attorney General to stop the mining of MCPS students' personal information for race-based profiling and advertising by private vendors. The Petition is open for signatures and available here: https://chng.it/GQkPm4X6DV

Google sought fellow tech giants' help in stalling kids' privacy protections, states allege

Unsealed court documents say the search giant sought help from Apple, Facebook and Microsoft to "find areas of alignment."

Google sought to use an August 2019 meeting with fellow tech giants Apple, Facebook and Microsoft to stall federal efforts to strengthen a children’s online privacy law, attorneys general for Texas and other states alleged in newly unsealed court documents on Friday.

Google also bragged about “slowing down” new privacy rules in Europe that would apply to digital services like services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Microsoft’s Skype, according to internal documents quoted by the states. But the search giant expressed concerns that Microsoft, which had been making “subtle privacy attacks” on its Big Tech rivals, might not go along with its plans...

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/22/google-kids-privacy-protections-tech-giants-516834

Social Platforms Feel Policy Pressure on Teen Privacy Controls

Tech companies including TikTok, Alphabet Inc., and Facebook Inc. are tightening privacy controls for teenagers as social media platforms feel policy pressure over protections for younger users.

Short-video platform TikTok, which is popular among teens, is changing privacy settings for users ages 13 to 17 to give them more control over who they share videos and messages with, the company announced in a blog post.

TikTok already makes accounts belonging to users under age 16 private by default, meaning only someone that they approve as a follower can view their videos. Features like messaging directly with other TikTok users are reserved for users who are 16 and older. The new controls for teens ages 13 to 17 build on existing measures by adding privacy prompts for video posts and downloads, along with a new default for direct messages.

TikTok’s measures come on the heels of similar moves to make teen accounts on Alphabet’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram more private by default.

Tech companies are likely acting in response to new design standards for children’s privacy in the U.K. and a legislative proposal targeting teen privacy in the U.S., according to Josh Golin, executive director of children’s advocacy group Fairplay.

The U.K.'s so-called age appropriate design code directs online services to build in privacy protections by default and to explain settings in ways that children would understand. Enforcement of the code begins in September.

“You can clearly see the hand of the age appropriate design code in all three of these announcements,” Golin said of the recent moves by TikTok, Google, and Facebook.

U.S. lawmakers are also showing interest in teen privacy that could lead to new rules for companies to follow. Legislation proposed in Congress earlier this year would require consent for collecting data from teenagers...

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/social-platforms-feel-policy-pressure-on-teen-privacy-controls

On a more fundamental level, most do not believe they have the choice to opt out of data collection, said Josh Golin, the executive director of the non-profit Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood.

'I don't care': young TikTokers unfazed by US furor over data collection

...The debate over TikTok’s future has also underscored the generational divide between the lawmakers legislating technology platforms and the people who use them. For Gen Z, which has grown up on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, having their personal data collected is a given. TikTok in particular thrives on oversharing, with young people using music to share embarrassing stories and photos of themselves, to the tune of millions of likes and comments. “Some of you are too comfortable on here” is a common refrain in the comments of videos...

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/aug/05/tiktok-gen-z-millennials-data-privacy-trump-china

U.S. senators urge probe of TikTok on children's privacy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four U.S. senators, including a China hawk, urged the Federal Trade Commission on Friday to investigate allegations that the popular video app TikTok violated a consent decree protecting children’s privacy.

In their letter, lawmakers noted a report by the Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and others saying that Chinese-owned TikTok had failed to take down videos made by children under age 13 as it agreed under a 2019 consent agreement with the FTC...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tiktok-privacy-usa-children/u-s-senators-urge-probe-of-tiktok-on-childrens-privacy-idUSKBN2352YD?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWTJRd1lqazNNMlJoWmprNSIsInQiOiJhYnN1VnIyZCtDRk56VUYxZHlUYjhKMVV4UjE1cCtiSnc2WHhkdnJwT0ptVUNMc2JLeFNvSFZVbFwvU3MrdStOWERkRTRQUGtUeDBzWW9ITk03ZkdxNWFcL251OWNnOXZWZ3I1MVFDclFETzZwTFdxV1F2c2NyRjBqUVVDZEM5ZFhLIn0%3D&fbclid=IwAR3gQ0llehWNebpawRRU52j0rS_CxlhjZkS_aaVnGaLuPwxEhVE8qWRSAdM

Thinking of sharing your senior photo on Facebook? Think twice!' warns Better Business Bureau

Shut in from the novel coronavirus, many are turning to trends and challenges on social media to fill the time and keep spirits raised. One popular trend is posting your high school senior year photo as a show of support for the 2020 graduating seniors whose graduations parties and ceremonies are canceled due to the coronavirus.

hile the trend is meant well, the Better Business Bureau is raising the alarm.

"Watch out," the BBB warns. "Scammers or hackers who surf through social media sites will see these #ClassOf2020 posts, and will now have the name of your high school and graduation year, which are common online security questions. All it takes is an internet search to reveal more information about you, such as family members, your real name, birthdate or even where you live."

The BBB recommends the following tips on their website to keep your posts safe.

Resist the temptation to play along...

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/thinking-of-sharing-your-senior-photo-on-facebook-think-twice-warns-better-business-bureau/32149902?fbclid=IwAR0UB7fVN3qvDvrmtFtiStf_F7dlH7d1ZbuEwligVtRnBd6oxTXD6CqA9aA

I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what was posted about me

This story is part of The Privacy Divide, a series that explores the fault lines and disparities—cultural, economic, philosophical—that have developed around digital privacy and its impact on society.

---

“Ha, that’s funny!” My 21-year old sister would comment when she saw my mother’s most recent Facebook update or her latest tweet. Social media has been significant to my sister’s social life since she was 13, and she has constantly posted on Twitter and Facebook for nearly a decade.

My parents had long ago made the rule that my siblings and I weren’t allowed to use social media until we turned 13, which was late, compared to many of my friends who started using  Instagram, Wattpad, and Tumblr when we were 10 years old.

While I was sometimes curious what my sister was laughing at and commenting on, and what my friends liked about it, I didn’t really have much of an interest in social media, and since I didn’t have a smartphone and wasn’t allowed to join any sites at all until I was 13, it wasn’t much of an issue for me.

Then, several months ago, when I turned 13, my mom gave me the green light and I joined Twitter and Facebook. The first place I went, of course, was my mom’s profiles. That’s when I realized that while this might have been the first time I was allowed on social media, it was far from the first time my photos and stories had appeared online. When I saw the pictures that she had been posting on Facebook for years, I felt utterly embarrassed, and deeply betrayed...

https://www.fastcompany.com/90315706/kids-parents-social-media-sharing

How to Stop Apps From Tracking Your Location

In the New York Times, story by reporters Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Natasha Singer. Full story here, with additional directions. Accompanying article here.

Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret

Hundreds of apps can follow your movements and share the details with advertisers, retailers and even hedge funds. Here’s how to limit the snooping.

Which apps gather and share location?

There isn’t a definitive list. Our tests identified instances of certain apps collecting precise location data and passing it to other companies in the moment. But apps can also gather and save the data, and not sell it until later — something tests wouldn’t catch. Your best bet is to check your device to see which apps have permission to get your location in the first place.

The apps most popular among data companies are those that offer services keyed to people’s whereabouts — including weather, transit, travel, shopping deals and dating — because users are more likely to enable location services on them.

 

How do I stop location tracking on iOS?

Some apps have internal settings where you can indicate that you don’t want your location used for targeted advertising or other purposes. But the easiest method is to go through your device’s main privacy menu.

 

In the device’s privacy settings, apps provide brief explanations of how they will use location data. Do not rely on these descriptions to tell you whether the location data will be shared or sold. The Times found that many of these descriptions are incomplete and often don’t mention that the data will be shared.

 

If you want to disable location tracking entirely, toggle the “Location Services" setting to off. With location services switched off entirely, you may not be able to use certain services, such as finding yourself on a map.

 

If you have apps you no longer use, you may want to delete them from your device.

 

How do I stop it on Android?

These instructions are for recent Android phones; Google provides more instructions here.

 

Google, a prominent collector of location data, lets users delete a segment of that information called their Location History. To do that, go to this page, then hit the Delete Location History button. Click it again when prompted. You can delete another segment of location data associated with your Google account by logging in and going to My Activity. Then click on Activity Controls and turn off Web & App Activity.