Google Acknowledges It Collects Student Information, but Doesn’t Target Ads

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Google acknowledges it collects information about students when they’re visiting Google-owned sites such as YouTube or services like Google Maps — but says it doesn’t use this personal data to target advertising.

The company provided details of its privacy practices in response to an inquiry from Sen Al Franken (D-MN), who had expressed concern that Google may be collecting students’ personal data for non-educational purposes without parents’ knowledge or consent. Susan Molinari, Google’s vice president of policy and government relations, wrote that the company collects such personal information as a student’s name and email address when they’re using education apps such as Gmail, Google Docs or Calendar. It doesn’t display ads within these services or use the data for advertising purposes, she wrote. If the school permits a student to travel beyond the walled garden of Google’s education apps while still logged in to their student account, Google collects data as it would for any other user — keeping tabs on the device they’re using or personal information they volunteer. Since these users are logged into their student accounts, Google says it doesn’t use this personal information to target advertising. Molinari said there’s “very little difference” in the data Google collects from its education apps and the data collected when they’re using a Chromebook.

Sen Franken issued a statement lauding Google for its thoroughness, but continuing to express concerns about what Google does with the information it collects from students who are browsing the Web while logged in to its education services.


Google Acknowledges It Collects Student Information, but Doesn’t Target Ads Press release (Sen Franken)