Google will announce
this morning that it’s scrapping its controversial policy of scanning student
and teacher emails sent through Google Apps for Education and will no longer
use the platform to deliver any advertising. Ads had been previously turned off
by default, but school administrators had the option to turn them back on — and
the terms of service specifically allowed Google to target ads to alumni still
using Apps for Education after leaving a school setting. Until this morning,
Google also scanned and indexed all email sent through the platform. That
policy sparked anger among educators, parents and privacy advocates. It also
sparked a federal lawsuit. So the company changed course.
— “Earning and keeping [customer] trust drives our business forward,” Bram
Bout, director of Google for Education, wrote in a blog post announcing the new
policy. “We know that trust is earned through protecting their privacy and
providing the best security measures.” Bout said similar changes will roll out
soon to Google Apps customers in business, government and other sectors. Bout
will discuss the changes at a Google Hangout on Thursday at noon Eastern; he
will be joined by the chief technology officer for a school district that uses
Google Apps.
The chat will be accessible here:
http://bit.ly/1iF2iiz.
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