Search giant Google has been accused of collecting data from school children as young as seven, despite making a legally-binding commitment to refrain from such shady activities.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which campaigns for civil liberties in the digital world, claims that Google "deceptively" tracks students' internet browsing via its Chromebook laptops and Google Apps for Education, which are used in many schools across the US and the UK.
The company reportedly keeps records of every website students visit, every search term they use, the results they click on, videos they look for and watch on YouTube, and their saved passwords.
These practices fly in the face of the Student Privacy Pledge, a legally enforceable document whereby companies promise to refrain from collecting, using or sharing students’ personal information except when needed for legitimate educational purposes.
After initially refusing to sign the pledge, Google eventually caved in to pressure from advocacy groups in January, amid fears that it would open the door to students' personal information being used for advertising purposes.
While Google does not use student data for targeted advertising, EFF found that its "Sync" feature on the Chrome browser is enabled by default on Chromebooks sold to schools, allowing it to track users' activity.
“Despite publicly promising not to, Google mines students' browsing data and other information, and uses it for the company's own purposes," said EFF Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo.
"Minors shouldn't be tracked or used as guinea pigs. If Google wants to use students’ data to ‘improve Google products,’ then it needs to get express consent from parents."
Google claims that it will soon disable a setting on school Chromebooks that allows Chrome Sync data - such as browsing history - to be shared with other Google services.
"Our services enable students everywhere to learn and keep their information private and secure," a Google spokesperson told Mirror Online.
"While we appreciate EFF's focus on student privacy, we are confident that these tools comply with both the law and our promises, including the Student Privacy Pledge."
However, EFF claims this is too little, too late, and that the administrative settings Google provides to schools allow student personal information to be shared with third-party websites.
It is now calling on the US consumer watchdog, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to investigate Google’s conduct, stop the company collecting student data, and order it to destroy all information it has collected that is not for educational purposes.
The news comes after toy-maker VTech admitted today that it has suffered a devastating cyber attack, resulting in millions of pictures of children being stolen, along with their names and birthdays.