Senators Question School Surveillance Startups on Data, Civil Rights
A new report suggests increasingly popular monitoring software puts students’ rights at risk.
Elizabeth Warren
Photographer: Tom Williams/AFP/Getty Images
School surveillance companies are not doing enough to determine whether their products unfairly target minority groups, according to a report released by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.
Democratic senators sent questions to four of the most prominent companies that make education software monitoring students’ online activity. The resulting report about their findings said that parents and schools are not fully informed about the extent and risks associated with the tracking software made by GoGuardian, Gaggle.Net Inc., Bark Technologies Inc. and Securly Inc. The report also said that because the products could increase students’ contact with law enforcement, the software “may be exacerbating the school-to-prison pipeline.”