“Hopefully, today’s announcement that inBloom is closing its doors will make government officials, corporations and foundations more aware that parental concerns cannot be ignored and that they must stop foisting their ‘solutions’ on our schools and classrooms with no attention given to the legitimate concerns of parents and their right to protect their children from harm.”
CEO Iwan Streichenberger said in an open letter today that the database, fueled with $100 million from the Gates Foundation, would “wind down.” It appears to have lost essentially all prospective clients.
Although Haimson was pleased with the news, she said she fears the decision will not have any lasting effect and that parents still have plenty to worry about regarding their children’s information. “The statement issued by inBloom’s CEO … makes it clear that those in charge still have not learned any lessons from this debacle.
The fervent opposition to inBloom among parents throughout the country did not result from ‘misunderstandings’ but inBloom’s utter inability to provide a convincing rationale that would supersede the huge risks to student security and privacy involved.”
She said parents’ fight for student privacy is just beginning, and that work will continue on this front.
“We will continue to work with parents throughout the country to see that the federal government returns to its original role as protecting student privacy, and recognizing the parental right to notification and consent, rather than furthering the ability of for-profit vendors and other third parties to commercialize this data,” she said.
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