Apparently Google has these free applications that schools can sign up for, and then require their students to use. Then Google scans the content learning all kinds of things about the students.
Why do I think that's a problem? Well, let's see what happens in a class action lawsuit in San Jose, which Judge Lucy H Koh denied Googles motion to dismiss the case and is not deciding whether to certify it as a class. (Google Inc. Gmail Litigation, 13-md-02430.)
Also, there's FERPA, the "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act", which is meant to protect students privacy, and gives the following example:
EXAMPLE 4: A district contracts under the school official exception with a provider for basic productivity applications to help educate students: email, calendaring, web-search, and document-collaboration software. The district sets up the user accounts, using basic enrollment information (name, grade, etc.) from student records. Under FERPA, the provider may not use data about individual student preferences gleaned from scanning student content to target ads to individual students for clothing or toys, because using the data for these purposes was not authorized by the district and does not constitute a legitimate educational interest as specified in the district’s annual notification of FERPA rights.Yes, right, which is exactly what Google does with Gmail, and they state they make no secret of. Except they're not contracting with adult users of the services, they're contracting with schools that require minor students to use the applications.
How about Microsoft Office 365?
The privacy policy for Microsoft’s Office 365, the company’s competitor product for Google Apps for Education, states “We do not mine your data for advertising purposes. It is our policy to not use your data for purposes other than providing you productivity services.”Score 1 for Microsoft
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