FTC referral to Justice Dept over alleged #COPPA violations and more…such as writing messages users thought were coming from their contacts (179 messages sent 259 million times - allegedly, of course), and other oddities. Complaint against the company and CEO as an individual.

No child’s play here. Disney agrees to $10MM COPPA settlement over mislabeled YouTube video, with a 10 year consent decree to go with it.

Examining how districts are managing student data #privacy & challenges faced by district edtech leaders has been a bit of a passion project for me. H/T to Aaron Hoffman at Useful Research for the data analysis & to the dedicated EdTech leaders who took time to participate and share their insights.

What happens to student #privacy if ED is dismantled or disempowered? The 135+ state student data privacy laws don’t come close to covering the terrain addressed by FERPA and PPRA. @edweek.bsky.social @ariannaprothero.bsky.social @laurainegl.bsky.social www.edweek.org/technology/i...

Sharing before it disappears. Worth a read.

Irony.

Most states also have laws specific to student data #privacy, some w/breach requirements. Mandatory reporting to regulators in NY & CT. Potential jail time in LA. Penalties up to & including debarment from doing biz in the state in IL. @govpritzker.illinois.gov www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” - Winston Churchill Looking forward to the end of the beginning.

The scope and repercussions from the recent PowerSchool data breach are likely to be unfolding for awhile. In the meantime, you know the drill. Shore up your fundamentals: complex, unique passwords, MFA, data access limitations, network segmentation, training, etc. www.govtech.com/education/k-...

Students arrested and an employee fired over password sharing and misuse. It should never have come to this. Document policies and procedures. Require unique passwords and MFA. Train better (and don’t only train on phishing). Then train again. #privacy

Very happy to see Rebecca Torchia at EdTech Magazine covering this important program that gives state education agencies insights into district student #privacy practices and the resources to help districts improve and so glad to be a part of it! #privacy #edtech @cosnweb.bsky.social

So much wrong here, including, “…this was not an old device, it was fairly recent, expensive, and still being sold.” Seems to be just predatory at that point.

Enjoyed chatting with Kirsten Adair with Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations about this impactful student data #privacy program.

CA Confidentiality of Medical Info and CA Customer Records Act have entered the student #privacy chat. One to watch, esp for those working w/ district SEL programs, IEPs, etc. And remember: notification 5 months after a breach (w/out good reason) is a VERY expensive, self-inflicted wound. #edtech

A very, very cautionary tale, and good reminder for districts: your DPA with your ed tech provider is not the same as due diligence - trust but verify, and investor excitement does not mean it’s a good product. It means someone *thinks* they can make money. #privacy #edtech @the74.bsky.social

This lawsuit seems messy. Plaintiffs seem to ignore #FERPA & cite basic analytics and adaptive learning as some of the nefarious doings with data. Defendant's tilting at #COPPA is...unique. TBD if it prevails on wiretapping or other, but one to watch. #privacy #edtech @annamerod.bsky.social

Thank you @wearelakotatech.bsky.social for sharing!

This bill never should have dropped without a massive rewrite to avoid some of the issues (overly broad scope, unintended consequences, etc) that were ultimately leveraged for delays and collapse. Would have passed a long time ago. H/T James Bruni. @georgiawells.bsky.social @wsj.com

What are you doing to take control of your data privacy, and how are you communicating that to the companies you share your information with?