Report: 96% of School Apps Send Kids’ Personal Data to Potentially Harmful Third Parties --
Summary
Report: 96% of School Apps Send Kids’ Personal Data to Potentially Harmful Third Parties Internet Safety Labs Randomly Tested Apps Used in Every State by Almost Half a Million Students In a new K–12 ed tech safety benchmark report, “School Mobile Apps Student Data Sharing Behavior,” Internet Safety Labs finds that 96% of all apps used in schools share children’s personal information with third parties without the knowledge or consent of the users or the schools. Applying four safety score outcomes (high risk, some risk, do not use, and unable to test), it found that 78% of apps were scored “do not use” and 18% were “high risk.” • 74.9% of the apps tested were scored “very high risk” for having SDK components that were “likely to share data with high-risk entities,” ISL said. • Location information was accessed by 79% of the apps, based on permission analysis. • 52% of the apps tested accessed the students’ calendar and contacts information. • 28% of apps tested were not specifically made for education, the report noted, “such as The New York Times, YouTube, or Spotify, effectively providing no limits or guardrails for children.” The report also details child safety concerns about Google, noting that Google “dominates K–12 ed tech as the prime supplier of both hardware and software.” According to the report, 75% of schools provided Google Chromebooks or tablets to students, with Apple providing 34%.