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School Surveillance Leading to ‘Digital Dystopia’ for Students, ACLU Says
Technology surveillance companies that market themselves to schools as ways for educators to ensure student safety are creating a “digital dystopia” that harms children’s trust and mental health, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The $3.1 billion industry has marketed tools to track students’ online activities, facial recognition, cameras and more as ways to prevent bullying, self-harm and school shootings, but it has provided no evidence its technologies lead to these outcomes, the ACLU says.
The ACLU conducted research and reviewed other conclusions collected by the Department of Justice to find there is a “lack of clear evidence” that the products advertised by educational technology (EdTech) firms keep students safe like they say they do.
In addition, a survey conducted by the ACLU shows a third of 14- to 18-year-olds say they “always feel like I’m being watched” with the surveillance tech. Fifteen percent felt “exposed” from the monitoring, 14% say it makes them anxious and 13% say they are paranoid about it.
Huntington Beach Proclaims Itself a ‘No Mask and No Vaccine Mandate City’
The Huntington Beach City Council proclaimed the city a “No Mask and No Vaccine Mandate City” on Tuesday night, passing a resolution by a 4-3 vote. Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark, who introduced the item, said it prevents potential government overreach. Opponents of the proclamation labeled it as nothing more than a political stunt.
The resolution declares that mask and vaccine mandates are banned within city jurisdiction, with exceptions for those who test positive for COVID-19. It also states that residents retain the right to mask and vaccinate, and businesses retain the right to impose mask and/or vaccine requirements.
Van Der Mark said the state of California denied citizens individual liberties with the way it handled the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“They did deny the citizens of their individual liberties, including how to take care of yourself,” Van Der Mark said. “Business owners were not allowed to open unless they asked for vaccine cards or forced masks onto people. That’s not the country that we live in, and I believe as a city we need to stand up for our residents and our businesses.”
Microsoft Teams Is Getting a Pretty Creepy Facial Recognition Tool — but It’s Totally Fine
Your workplace meetings and calls could soon be able to detect exactly who is in the room thanks to a new (and slightly concerning) update from Microsoft Teams.
The video conferencing service has announced a new “desktop client face enrollment process” which it says can speed up identifying participants as they join a call on its Teams Rooms platform.
However, as the name suggests, users will have to “enroll their face” in order to sign up, where the company’s slightly concerningly named “People Recognition” platform will create a “face profile” for them.
First announced back in June 2023, People Recognition uses “advanced facial recognition algorithms” to allow Microsoft Teams Rooms kit to identify users and provide personalized experiences during video conferences and meetings.
Youngkin Takes $2 Million From TikTok Investor Despite App Ban, China Warnings
Gov. Glenn Youngkin accepted a $2 million political contribution this week from a donor with a multibillion-dollar stake in TikTok, a Chinese-owned app that the Republican governor banned from state devices late last year amid his broader campaign against Chinese influence in Virginia
Jeff Yass, a billionaire financier whose personal stake in TikTok’s parent company is worth a reported $21 billion, donated $2 million to Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia political action committee Tuesday. With hefty political donations, Yass has been helping TikTok rally conservatives in Washington against banning the app in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
ECDC, Sweden Detail Good Practices, Lessons Learned From COVID School-Closure Policies
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Public Health Agency of Sweden today released a 36-page after-action report on how decisions were made on whether to keep schools open during the earlier pandemic months. According to an ECDC press release, the reviewers looked at how the policies were made, gauged their impact, and assembled detailed lessons on good practices and areas for improvement in future health emergencies.
The report focuses on the period of November 2020 to January 2021, a time when Sweden experienced a second wave that was much larger than its first. Sweden’s policy was distance learning for secondary school students and keeping in-person learning in place — alongside infection control measures for younger students, except when local outbreaks occurred.
Google Agrees to Reform Its Data Terms After German Antitrust Intervention
Following preliminary objections over Google’s data terms, set out back in January by Germany’s antitrust watchdog, the tech giant has agreed to make changes that will give users a better choice over its use of their information, the country’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) said today.
The commitments cover situations where Google would like to combine personal data from one Google service with personal data from other Google or non-Google sources or cross-use these data in Google services that are provided separately, per the authority.
“In the future, Google will have to provide its users with the possibility to give free, specific, informed and unambiguous consent to the processing of their data across services. For this purpose Google has to offer corresponding choice options for the combination of data,” the FCO said, adding that the design of the new “selection dialogues” must not seek to manipulate users towards cross-service data processing (aka, no dark patterns).
