In England, children are tracked from birth through education databases that record their lives in detail. These systems are vast, permanent, and invisible to most families. privacyinternational.org/long-read/56...

Education should nurture curiosity, not feed algorithms that children are unable to consent to. It’s time to question how deeply surveillance is being built into childhood itself. Read our article with @defenddigitalme.bsky.social 👉 privacyinternational.org/long-read/56...

@jenpersson.com @defenddigitalme.bsky.social

Department for Education refuses to release 2020 audit of national pupil records, under FOI. defenddigitalme.org/2025/09/29/d... #FOI #GDPR #DataProtection #PupilData #UK #SchoolsBill #CWBSBill

Lord Frost, Children's Wellbeing and #SchoolsBill 3/7/2025, "we are seeing the erosion of the vital principle that freedom and autonomy are fundamentally important and that the state does not have the right to go anywhere it wants at will". www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdZb... #education 1/2

Our interview @privacyinternational.org podcast includes discussion of UK Department for #Education “Futures research looking at the implications of the use of #genomics in relation to education, focusing on 2 potential future scenarios.” Timely in context of recent news www.bbc.com/news/article...

I already knew of the issues surrounding DfE collection of pupil data and the UK database state but this is a really eye-opening and interesting (by which I mean horrifying) account of that by Jen Peersen from @defenddigitalme.bsky.social. I highly recommend you give it a listen youtu.be/3vb_JysheF0

#NHS number to be national ID mandated in Children’s Wellbeing and #SchoolsBill Key points of what we know, and seven areas of scrutiny and challenge, particularly as Clause 31 in the Bill is debated soon and its potential for scope creep, as happening in Wales defenddigitalme.org/2025/06/14/n...

“Learning about learners: Protecting Children's #Data” @PrivacyInternational.org with @JenPersson.com (June 2025). Current issues in education in England: What’s in a National Pupil Record? #EdTech, #AI, what futures are possible and how and why it matters privacyinternational.org/video/5598/l...

Excited to be participating at the ‘Data Tech and Black Communities’ report launch in Birmingham. The first part of a wide range of their work. On #edTech #pupildata and #HumanRights empowering children and families in state education in England. dtbc.org.uk More coming soon.

What happens when public data is shared with the wrong people? 🗃️ The Department for Education (DfE) maintains records about everybody who has received state-funded education in England since 1996 in the National Pupil Database. It routinely shares this information with third parties. (1/3)

📢 CDT Europe and 88 others just sent a joint letter to the European Commission warning against plans that risk weakening end-to-end #encryption in the EU. Strong encryption protects everyone’s security. We need to defend it, not undermine it. #E2EE #ProtectEU

On #WorldVampireDay — you can use a ‘Subject Access Request’ to ask the DfE for a copy of all the personal data sucked out from your school about you or your child since 2002. Find out: Who’s been given it & why? What is kept forever? #DraculaDay #Education defenddigitalme.org/my-school-re...

The summer term #school #census opens in England today. But do parents know where pupil records go each term? Will the new ICO Code of Practice for #education help? “Unlawful, unsafe and unaccountable. Education, we have a #data problem.” (2020) in Schools Week schoolsweek.co.uk/unlawful-uns... 1/2

Tomorrow is the deadline!! 🌟

In August last year the UK government announced a share of £1m to award to AI companies who bring forward the best ideas to reduce teacher workload by March 2025. Anyone seen an announcement of the successful tools? www.gov.uk/search/news-...

This weekend, we've a little Easter egg for dystopian fiction fans. Or is it? "You are a Year 10 pupil at Horizon Academy. You didn’t sign up for the new system. No one asked for your permission. But your school bought it anyway. What do you do?" Choose wisely in our Twine. #HappyEaster2025 1/8🧵

#Childrights are under threat and so are the organisations defending them. Anti-rights movements are using #childprotection language to roll back progress. We need a strong, funded #civilsociety to fight back. Read our Secretary General Sabine Saliba's blog 👇https://buff.ly/njjh8cD

The Children’s Wellbeing and #Schools Bill so far: Impact Assessment & scrutiny not fit for purpose defenddigitalme.org/2025/02/07/i... #Data Pushing everything 'too difficult' into #CWBSBill secondary regs gets them passed without scrutiny but makes Bill high-risk schoolsweek.co.uk/campaigners-...

The panel includes: - Kay Firth-Butterfield, DSC - Leo Ratledge, Co-Director of the Child Rights International Network - Jen Persson (@jenpersson.com) , founder of Defend Digital Me @defenddigitalme.bsky.social - Tracey Gyateng, co-founder of Data, Tech and Black Communities #ChildRightsDSC

📣Doughty Street Chambers Children’s Rights Group Annual Children’s Rights Lecture 2024 |Thursday 13 March 2025, 17.30 – 19:00 📣 The lecture will be delivered by @sonialivingstone.bsky.social, London School of Economics and Political Science. The event will be chaired by @aoifenolan.bsky.social

The panel includes: - Kay Firth-Butterfield, DSC - Leo Ratledge, Co-Director of the Child Rights International Network - Jen Persson (@jenpersson.com) , founder of Defend Digital Me @defenddigitalme.bsky.social - Tracey Gyateng, co-founder of Data, Tech and Black Communities #ChildRightsDSC

The Children’s Wellbeing and #Schools Bill so far: Impact Assessment & scrutiny not fit for purpose defenddigitalme.org/2025/02/07/i... #Data Pushing everything 'too difficult' into #CWBSBill secondary regs gets them passed without scrutiny but makes Bill high-risk schoolsweek.co.uk/campaigners-...

School pupils’ ‘sex survey’ data offered to researchers: Opt out fails children on reuse of #ID and Local Authorities’ survey defenddigitalme.org/2025/02/05/s... #Scotland #Health #Wellbeing #DataBill #DUABill #CWBSBill #DataProtection #privacy #AI #Copyright Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

School pupils’ ‘sex survey’ data offered to researchers: Opt out fails children on reuse of #ID and Local Authorities’ survey defenddigitalme.org/2025/02/05/s... #Scotland #Health #Wellbeing #DataBill #DUABill #CWBSBill #DataProtection #privacy #AI #Copyright Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

BBC News - Scottish school pupil 'sex survey' data offered to researchers - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The #CWBSbill obliges LAs maintain a database of Home Educated children *and to hand it over to the DfE* (436F) Worrying the govt. is building ever more matched datasets of parents’ income, welfare and children’s data too. Parliament has never debated these powers. schoolsweek.co.uk/campaigners-...

The #CWBSbill obliges LAs maintain a database of Home Educated children *and to hand it over to the DfE* (436F) Worrying the govt. is building ever more matched datasets of parents’ income, welfare and children’s data too. Parliament has never debated these powers. schoolsweek.co.uk/campaigners-...

Assuming the UK government stays true to its word, #DataProtectionDay 2025 saw progress this week on #education data, that has been a long time coming. What's missing? What's new? What's progressed? What's promised? A summary of #DUABill outcomes in our scope. defenddigitalme.org/2025/01/29/d...

On #EducationDay as you read U.S. news, remember, the UK Dept for Education hands over pupil records to the Home Office *monthly* for aims incl. the #HostileEnvironment (2016) www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-poli... 06/2024: 7,176 pupils’ data requested, 1,801 handed over defenddigitalme.org/my-school-re...

The consequences of ignoring the dimension of time in the UK Data Use and Access Bill #DUABill #AI #DataProtection “As-is, these changes will adversely affect the rights of data subjects, destabilise public trust and create legal ambiguity to what went before.” defenddigitalme.org/2025/01/21/t...

A reflection on 2024 for #pupil data in the #education sector in England and beyond, and the first week of a new term, 2025. #Data #DataProtection #HumanRights #ChildRights #EdTech #FacialRecognition #Biometrics #NHS #CWBSBill Children's Wellbeing & #Schools Bill defenddigitalme.org/2024/12/30/a...

🚨 NEW 🚨 It's the latest - and for now, *final* - Data Policy Digest from @connectedbydata.org Bills, consultations, announcements, news stories... all the major data and AI policy developments from the last month (spoiler: there's a lot) connectedbydata.org/news/2025/01...

For those who read my piece on the EDPB’s Opinion on use of personal data in training AI models, the first of a centipede-worth of shoes just dropped from Italy. www.mcgarrsolicitors.ie

On #HumanRightsDay yesterday peers in the House of Lords discussed the UK #DUABill. We call for support of a Code of Practice for the #Education sector. Will you #StandUp4HumanRights and take action? defenddigitalme.org/2024/12/11/dua…#DataProtectiono#privacycy

It might be 17 days until Christmas but it’s only 3 until the next debate of the reform of UK #DataProtection law @UKHouseofLords on Tuesday—in between, why not catch up on seven days of our Defend Digital Me #Advent2024 facts. #DUABill #HumanRights #Data #AI defenddigitalme.org/2024/11/20/p...

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 53 experts and civil society groups call on the government to scrap proposals that'll remove the right not to be subject to decisions made by AI. The Data Bill MUST keep the right to human review! Our open letter ⬇️ #DUABill #PeopleNotMachines www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releas...

Signatories of the letter work in data policy, policing, racial justice, employment, health, disability rights, welfare and criminal justice. This is where automated systems are increasingly being deployed to make decisions, which can have a profound impact on an individual’s life. #DataBill #AI

It's our annual #HappyAdvent National Pupil Database countdown calendar! Even more MPs than ever, aged under 50 in the @HouseofCommons, are now in the data too—including half the Cabinet Ministers—but do they know where their data go? 1/26 Unwrap a new fact each day #DataProtection law #DUABill