A group of fourteen companies, including Microsoft, have signed a new pledge promising to protect the personal information of K-12 students. Specifically, the software developers and other firms promise not to sell personal data, not to use student data for ad targeting and not compile profiles on students without parent and school permission.
The Future of Privacy Forum and the Software & Information Industry Association created the pledge. “We wanted to say to parents: ‘No one’s going to sell your kids’ data; nobody’s going to track your child around the Internet; no one’s going to compile a profile that is used against your child when they apply for a job 20 years later,’” said Jules Polonetsky, executive director of the Future Privacy Forum. “We hope this is a useful way for companies that want to be trusted partners in schools to make it clear they are on the side of responsible data use.”
