Gizmodo.com, a popular technology website related to consumer electronics, reported May 4 that schools have been turning to digital services at an unprecedented rate over the past year, and digital tools have been devouring kids’ data at an equally unprecedented rate, with the breach being massive and without the caution that should be taken.
A new report released Tuesday by the technology-focused nonprofit Me2B Coalition shows that most school utilities share some data about students with third-party marketing companies. The apps shared information ranging from a student’s geographic location to his or her entire contact list. These data were taken from companies that students and parents may never have heard of.
Me2B analyzed the software development kits (or SDKs) that come with the apps, which are small libraries of code that often help developers monetize their apps by sharing certain data with third-party advertising companies. Of the 73 apps surveyed, there were 486 SDKs in total, with nearly 63% (306) of them sharing data with Facebook or Google, and the rest often sharing data extracted from student apps with dozens, if not hundreds, of little-known third parties.
Such SDKs are found in large numbers in Android apps, accounting for 91 percent of them, and in Apple apps, very few end up doing so, only 26 percent. This is because Apple does set standards that every iOS developer needs to follow, especially when it comes to tracking and targeting those who use the app.
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