Google and Student Emails: Search Giant Vows to Stop Scanning
Students using Google Apps for Education will now be happy to know that Google will stop scanning emails for advertising purposes following a lawsuit in California.
Google Apps for Education's default mode contains no ads, however, administrators were still given the option to turn on ads. In order for the ads, when turned on, to target demographics effectively, Google would scan through student emails. This has all stopped now, Google says, and there won't be any more scanning of Gmails in Google Apps for Education.
"We've permanently removed the 'enable/disable' toggle for ads in the Apps for Education Administrator console. This means ads in Apps for Education services are turned off and administrators no longer have the option or ability to turn ads in these services on," Google director of Google Education Bram Bout said in a blog post Wednesday.
"We've permanently removed all ads scanning in Gmail for Apps for Education, which means Google cannot collect or use student data in Apps for Education services for advertising purposes."
More than 30 million students, teachers, and administrators use Google Apps for Education, according to Google. Bout also defended Google's integrity, stating that privacy and security are top concerns at the company.
"Of course, good privacy requires strong security. We have more than 400 full-time engineers - the world's foremost experts in security - working to protect your information. We always use an encrypted HTTPS connection when you check or send email in Gmail, which means no one can listen in on your messages as they go back and forth between your laptop, phone or tablet and Gmail's servers - even if you're using public WiFi," Bout wrote.
Bout also revealed that Google is planning to implement similar changes for all Google apps customers and legacy users of the free version.
The move is the result of fallout from a lawsuit against Google currently pending in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. A trial date is set for October, when Google will face charges of violating state and federal wiretap laws and breaching the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) passed in 1974.
"The data-mining and data-processing activities involved in Google Apps for Education are very problematic for student privacy. But the complexity of these arrangements exceeds what FERPA is really capable of addressing," Joel R. Reidenberg, a law professor at Fordham University, says in an Education Week article.
Google responded to Education Week with an emailed statement saying, "Google Apps for Education complies with FERPA and our commitment to do so is included in our agreements."
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