Ask Slashdot: Explaining Cloud Privacy Risks To K-12 Teachers? 168
hyperorbiter writes "With the advent of Google Apps for Education, there has been a massive uptake by the K12 schools I deal with on signing students up with their own Google powered email address under the school domain. In addition, the students' work when using Google Apps is stored offshore and out of our control — with no explicit comeback if TOS are breached by Google. It seems to me that the school cannot with integrity maintain it has control over the data and its use. I have expressed a concern that it is unethical to use these services without informing the students' parents of what is at stake e.g. the students are getting a digital footprint from the age of seven and are unaware of the implications this may have later in life. The response has often been that I'm over-reacting and that the benefits of the services far outweigh the concerns, so rather than risk knee jerk reactions by parents (a valid concern) and thereby hampering 'education', it's better to not bring this stuff up. My immediate issue isn't so much about the use of the cloud services now, but the ethics over lack of disclosure in the parental consent process. Does anyone have ideas about defining the parameters of 'informed consent' where we inform of risks without bringing about paranoia? (Google Apps is just an example here, I think it applies to many cloud services.)"
Re:What *are* the implications? (Score:4, Informative)
"Send you child to a different school, speak with the school board, whatever it takes; you the parent have complete control..."
You're assuming a level of income and engagement that only exists at the high level. 1). The parents have to be educated on these issues *specifically*. 2). The parents need to have the money to make the changes you suggest.
You can't just change school districts. Generally, you're assigned a school based on where you live. Sending your kid to a different school means paying a penalty, at minimum, or paying for private school, where tuition can approach college-level. Can you afford to lay out $8,000 - $12,000 a year for your kid to go to a different school, while still paying property taxes to support the local ones? Keep in mind, you have to handle transportation to and from the school as well, which again, assumes you're rich enough to do so .
Of course there's home schooling -- provided, again, that you're rich enough to be able to afford not to work or have a spouse who can support your family on a single income. And it's a lot harder to be as engaged as a parent if you're the only one earning an income, leaving the house at 7 AM, and getting home 12 hours later to young kids who still need dinner made and homework checked.
All of *this* assumes that the school district itself properly understands the programs in question well enough to communicate them and that the programs are administered appropriately.