Democrats Target Companies’ ‘Student Surveillance’

Companies claiming they’re protecting student safety might be surveilling them inappropriately instead, three Democratic senators wrote Monday. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both of Massachusetts, and Richard Blumenthal, Conn., wrote to the owners of Gaggle, Bark Technologies, GoGuardian and Securly about their use of AI "and algorithmic systems to monitor students’ online activity.” They raised concerns the companies’ monitoring practices violate federal law, compound “racial disparities in school discipline” and drain “resources from more effective student supports.” GoGuardian said in a statement it received the letter and is looking forward to responding. It said it’s a “proud signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge, certified as [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act]-compliant by the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, and trusted by schools and districts across the U.S. to help protect their students.” Gaggle said it "takes privacy and student safety seriously; the company has a robust privacy policy that strictly limits students’ personally identifiable information (PII) to students’ names and school districts (in other words, Gaggle does not collect any data related to students’ race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation) and layers its artificial intelligence with a team of trained content reviewers to analyze context and help prevent false flags." The other companies didn’t comment.