It is my opinion that a lot of us don't give a second thought to the privacy we give up when it comes to app data. I include myself in this blanket statement.  The new iOS 13 update on my iPhone includes a feature that tells me if an app is tracking my location, even when I am not using the app. 

The example I will use is an app I have on my iPhone that follows my favourite NFL football team.  I was on the app a couple of Sunday's ago checking out some player stats and the upcoming schedule. A few days later I received a privacy warning from the new iOS I had upgraded to stating that this app has been tracking my location for the past few days and asked if I wanted to change my location settings for that app.   I immediately changed the location settings to protect my privacy.  

Big Data

While I don't believe this particular app has any malicious intent, I know that it is cumulating the data of all the app users and analyzing that data to sell to advertisers. As a marketer, this is the reality. I can buy advertising from media companies and target users based on gender, age, location, etc.  In fact, I can geo-target pre-selected demographics down to a few meters of a street address.  Not only can I target those locations, but I can combine that with other indicators, like your search history, to get my product in front of your eyes.  

If I was a carpet store and I was geo-targeting app users using these methods, I could target users that entered home box stores that sell carpet like Home Depot or Lowes as well as local carpet stores.  I could then use that data to make sure you see an advert for my carpet store pop up at the top of your game of solitaire well you are in the waiting room of the dentists' office. I can then further harvest your data to see if you go into my carpet store as a result of seeing the advert.

For as long as there has been advertising, marketers have been tracking demographics to effectively target advertisements to key market segments for whatever product they are promoting.  This is not new.  A lot of this information was gathered through surveying, market studies, subscription bases and focus groups. Marketers had to dig to get the information and hope the feedback was accurate.

Now you are giving up that information willingly and in some cases, without realizing you have given up this information.  That information is then used to sell you products and services.  Sometimes it is a bit eerie to see ads for things that you are in the market to buy, almost like your mind is being read. 

Educational Apps

I always like to tell teachers to start to ask questions of apps that they download to use with their students. Free doesn't always mean free.  Ask these questions before putting an app into use in your classroom:

1. Where is the app storing the data?  I literally mean in which country/city/region is it being stored.
2. Do the privacy laws of that region match what my school/school board deems reasonable?
3. Who owns the data?  In other words, if I delete my account does that mean the data is deleted as well OR does it remain on the app's server?
4. Who can see the data?  Is it shared with/sold to 3rd parties?
5. While students (and parents) are using the app how can the privacy of other students be compromised?

A lot of these questions can be answered in the End User Licence Agreement (EULA) or Terms of Service notice...if you take the time to read it.  If it stills seems to be a grey area and remains unclear I would contact the app developer and asked them directly.  If you still don't get a straight answer I would err on the side of caution and not use the app in the classroom.  

In some cases, you can ask your school boards IT department.  For example, if your board is a Google board, they may have negotiated the terms of the EULA for the board. In which case, they will be able to answer the questions above.

Look, I am pro-technology, but not at the cost of student privacy.  Even if an app passes the privacy questions above, I would still get consent from parents prior to putting any student information on an app.  In a lot of cases, I would not use a student's name directly but would substitute their name with a number and keep a paper roster or just use their initials.  

There may be options where you don't need to enter any student information to use an app or web service.  Scratch is a good example of this.  Students can simply start block coding in Scratch if they don't wish to set up an account.  Of course, they won't be able to save projects, but if they want to use Scratch to learn to block coding, the account portion isn't necessary. 

An Ounce Of Prevention

Students have a right to have their privacy protected.  Be careful when inputting student information into apps without researching where that data is housed, or who can see it and if you have the ability to completely delete it off the app server.  

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Disclaimer: All the opinions are my own and are not the views of any suppliers or manufacturers.