Children are being spied on through the educational software being used around the world, warned Human Rights Watch (HRW)..Of 164 educational technology (EdTech) platforms endorsed by 49 governments — including Canada — 146 “appeared to engage in data practices that risked or infringed on children’s rights,” stated a HRW report released Thursday..CBC Kids was named in the report as one of eight websites “canvas-fingerprinting" — tracking and harvesting children’s internet activities..Some of the “insidious and persistent” learning apps with access to precise location data can determine where children live, spend most of their time, and who they spend time with..“So that's extremely sensitive information that could be exposed to misuse and exploitation," said technology expert and the 99-page report’s author, Hye Jung Han, with HRW’s children’s rights division..According to HRW, tracking who has the data, which is kept indefinitely, or opting out of being tracked is impossible..Han said the only way to protect children from being tracked and surveilled on some learning apps is to throw “your child’s device in the trash.”.Companies have been canvas-fingerprinting children, tracking them on the internet, and selling data to advertising companies, said HRW..According to the report, 20 advertising and marketing companies received the children’s data from CBC Kids..CBC denied the allegations.."While we applaud the work of what the Human Rights Watch is doing to protect children, respectfully, they have incorrectly called us out," said CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson.."Simply stated, we have not, do not and will not collect or share children's data with any third-party ad trackers. To say as much is as irresponsible as it is egregious.".The HRW investigation into 290 companies discovered the software “collected, processed, or received children’s data” and that it took place between March and August, 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic..HRW's report, entitled How Dare They Peep into My Private Life: Children’s Rights Violations by Governments that Endorsed Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic, called on governments to “adopt modern child data protection laws to protect children online.”.Children entering online learning websites are immediately “surrounded by a swarm of invisible trackers,” said Han..“The equivalent would be a child sitting in a physical classroom with a surveillance camera trained on them to capture every time the child scratched their nose.”.Most educational technology companies didn’t disclose their surveillance of children, and most online learning platforms installed technologies that tracked children beyond virtual classrooms to other apps and internet websites, said the report..“Children should be safe in school, whether that’s in-person or online,” said Han..“By failing to ensure that their recommended online learning products protected children and their data, governments [...] opened the door for companies to surveil children online, outside school hours, and deep into their private lives.”.Of the governments that provided online education through EdTech products, 39 made products that handled “personal data in ways that risked or infringed” on children’s rights, said HRW..“Some governments made it compulsory for students and teachers to use their EdTech product, subjecting them to the risks of misuse or exploitation of their data, and making it impossible for children to protect themselves by opting for alternatives to access their education.”.“Children, parents, and teachers were largely kept in the dark about these data surveillance practices.”.“It is not possible for HRW to reach definitive conclusions as to the companies’ motivations in engaging in these actions beyond reporting on what it observed in the data and the companies’ and government’s own statements.”.Some companies denied their products were intended for children’s use, while others denied collecting data.
