A civil liberties group is accusing Google of invading the privacy of schoolchildren by improperly collecting information through their computers, according to a federal complaint filed this week.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) claims the information is being obtained through the Google for Education program, which many schools are utilizing. Through that program, schools can buy Chromebook laptop computers and provide them to their students for educational use.
Fortune reported that 3.4 million Chromebooks were added to the education sector last year.
The problem, the EFF alleges in the complaint, is a default setting on those Chromebooks allows Google to collect and store data about the websites students visit and use it for its own benefit.
The feature is called Chrome Sync, and the EFF says it’s automatically turned on in the Google Chrome web browser. It allows users to have the same Internet browser configuration — things like saved settings, bookmarks and passwords — anytime they log in to Chrome on any device.
But the EFF alleges that also allows Google to collect and keep track student’s browsing records, including things like their search history and what videos they watch on YouTube. They say that’s a violation of the Student Privacy Pledge, which Google and other tech companies signed. One of the terms of that pledge is that companies will only use data for educational purposes.
The EFF alleges Google is using the data to improve its products and asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company and order it to destroy any student data it collected.
Google disputes the claims, telling Fortune that its programs comply with the law and its pledge.
“Our services enable students everywhere to learn and keep their information private and secure,” Google said in a statement reported by the Associated Press. And the Future of Privacy Forum, which helped draft the Student Privacy Pledge, thinks the allegations are unfounded.
“We have reviewed the EFF complaint but do not believe it has merit. … The Chrome Sync setting is a general feature of all Chromebooks, whether purchased by schools or the general public. We don’t believe the complaint raises any issues about data use that are restricted by the Student Privacy Pledge,” the forum’s executive director, Jules Polonetsky, said in a statement.
