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This is an unpopular opinion here, but I'll voice it anyway. There are serious privacy implications of using Chromebooks, particularly in schools where young st

This is an unpopular opinion here, but I'll voice it anyway. There are serious privacy implications of using Chromebooks, particularly in schools where young students may not understand the degree and extent of online tracking going on in ChromeOS. Since you cannot use a Chromebook fully without signing in, everything you do in the operating system is tracked and recorded by Google and tied to your identity. Why is this even considered remotely acceptable? The amount of data that Google captures about students must simply be staggering. It's simply not enough to say that the data is "anonymised" (a meaningless term when you have so much data about a user's online habits), or only viewed in aggregated form. This still means the data can be interrogated and mined for information in ways we can't begin to imagine. It remains baffling why the tech industry is so silent on this important subject.

pryelluw 10y ago
I used to work in edtech and had to undergo COPPA audits every year. I asked some Google classroom engineers about those audits last year at ISTE and none knew about it. Found that really strange. Dunno if they are certified now.
UnoriginalGuy 10y ago
Google has a page about this here: https://edu.google.com/trust/ https://edu.google.com/trust/ People should read that and form their own opinion either way.
- danieldk 10y ago
  Why would Google be a reliable source on whether Google does(n't) violate privacy laws and parents' privacy concerns? It has been shown in the past that they violated the 'Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act': https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/01/google-stops-scanning-student-emails-california-lawsuit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/01/google-st... They were also tracking students once they used Google services that were not covered by Google Apps for Education (which is kind of hard to avoid, since you have to sign in on a Chromebook): https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/google-changes-its-tune-when-it-comes-tracking-students https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/google-changes-its-tun...
  - m45t3r 10y ago
    The same can be said for Apple or Microsoft. People seem to trust that Apple does not track them just because they say so. Really, the only acceptable option would be a Linux distro. Not a commercial software.
danieldk 10y ago
I think it is unfair that people are downvoting this comment. It is a legitimate concern, also raised by the EFF and others: https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-pri...
torfans 10y ago
Isn't this the same with Apple and iOS? To download any app, you need an Apple ID which requires your name and address.
- duskwuff 10y ago
  Someone needs an Apple ID. It doesn't necessarily have to be the student. In fact, most educational deployments probably have the device locked down to keep students from downloading apps. Even then -- creating an Apple ID is quite a different matter from (potential) ongoing tracking of a user's online activity.
  - m45t3r 10y ago
    You could say the same for Chromebooks. It does not need to be the ID from student, the school can create a throwaway account and give the password for the student. If the problem is privacy, the only acceptable option would be a Linux distro properly optimized for school kids. The problem is, it needs to have a nice dashboard for administration since Chromebooks are popular in schools thanks to the ease of administration (most schools can't afford to maintain seasoned SysOps). AFAIK, nobody is working in this kind of product right now, so Linux distros are not the answer either.
- jodrellblank 10y ago
  Citation needed. My Apple ID doesn't have my name or address.
andybak 10y ago
I seem to recall Google severely limits the tracking in their education products? I don't have time to research it right now but maybe someone else knows?
remir 10y ago
That is why I said years ago that Firefox OS should have competed against ChromeOS, not Android and iOS.
- DanCarvajal 10y ago
  Yeah that's actually something I'm surprised never happened come to think of it.

pryelluw 10y ago

I used to work in edtech and had to undergo COPPA audits every year. I asked some Google classroom engineers about those audits last year at ISTE and none knew about it. Found that really strange. Dunno if they are certified now.

UnoriginalGuy 10y ago

Google has a page about this here: https://edu.google.com/trust/ https://edu.google.com/trust/ People should read that and form their own opinion either way.

danieldk 10y ago
Why would Google be a reliable source on whether Google does(n't) violate privacy laws and parents' privacy concerns? It has been shown in the past that they violated the 'Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act': https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/01/google-stops-scanning-student-emails-california-lawsuit https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/01/google-st... They were also tracking students once they used Google services that were not covered by Google Apps for Education (which is kind of hard to avoid, since you have to sign in on a Chromebook): https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/google-changes-its-tune-when-it-comes-tracking-students https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/google-changes-its-tun...
- m45t3r 10y ago
  The same can be said for Apple or Microsoft. People seem to trust that Apple does not track them just because they say so. Really, the only acceptable option would be a Linux distro. Not a commercial software.

danieldk 10y ago

I think it is unfair that people are downvoting this comment. It is a legitimate concern, also raised by the EFF and others: https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-pri...

torfans 10y ago

Isn't this the same with Apple and iOS? To download any app, you need an Apple ID which requires your name and address.

duskwuff 10y ago
Someone needs an Apple ID. It doesn't necessarily have to be the student. In fact, most educational deployments probably have the device locked down to keep students from downloading apps. Even then -- creating an Apple ID is quite a different matter from (potential) ongoing tracking of a user's online activity.
- m45t3r 10y ago
  You could say the same for Chromebooks. It does not need to be the ID from student, the school can create a throwaway account and give the password for the student. If the problem is privacy, the only acceptable option would be a Linux distro properly optimized for school kids. The problem is, it needs to have a nice dashboard for administration since Chromebooks are popular in schools thanks to the ease of administration (most schools can't afford to maintain seasoned SysOps). AFAIK, nobody is working in this kind of product right now, so Linux distros are not the answer either.
jodrellblank 10y ago
Citation needed. My Apple ID doesn't have my name or address.

andybak 10y ago

I seem to recall Google severely limits the tracking in their education products? I don't have time to research it right now but maybe someone else knows?

remir 10y ago

That is why I said years ago that Firefox OS should have competed against ChromeOS, not Android and iOS.

DanCarvajal 10y ago
Yeah that's actually something I'm surprised never happened come to think of it.