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Age-Appropriate Design Code

Following California’s adoption of an age-appropriate design code bill and the early success of the U.K.’s version (“the big names in tech made positive changes,” the former UK Information Commissioner recently wrote) attention has turned to what comes next. My colleague Chloe Altieri talked to Stateline about how it could become a national standard. We’ve seen states indicate interest in adopting their own versions (see New York and Connecticut).

Chloe and our colleague Bailey Sanchez have been all over this topic recently. They published a comprehensive analysis of the key components of the California law and critical pending questions, and, hot off the press today, they have released a follow-up report comparing the California and UK codes. Bailey also spoke at the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Privacy. Security. Risk. (PSR) conference, where the issue was “top of mind.” 

New research highlights the complexity and urgency of designing age-appropriate experiences for kids online. One-third of kids between ages 8-17 who are on social media have signed up falsely claiming to be an adult, in no small part because “age assurance has been a key challenge for online platforms and services for many years.” It is difficult to do without collecting personal data from children and families in return, raising the longstanding question of balancing safety and privacy. A new report from the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) dives deeper into attitudes around online safety, monitoring, and various methods of age assurance among parents and children in the US, UK, and France.

And a new coalition aims to help advance the broader conversation about potential social media reforms. The Council For Responsible Social Media, a new project of Issue One, aims to “change the national conversation around social media reform so it is focused on meaningful, achievable and bipartisan solutions.” The group of influential leaders was formed to “bridge divides in addressing the negative mental, civic, and public health impacts of social media in America.”

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“Honey pots of highly sensitive information”

Cybersecurity continues to be a major concern - and priority - for schools and districts. The Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency identified K-12 schools as one of three “target-rich, resource-poor entities” that it plans to focus on. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report called for additional federal coordination - and funding - to boost cybersecurity in K-12 schools.

While a ransomware attack like the one that recently hit Los Angeles Unified School District is “the single greatest cyber threat” facing K-12 schools, sometimes data breaches are more inadvertent, such as a failure to redact personal information from emails. Regardless of how the attack happens, “the repercussions of an attack on vulnerable school systems can be strong, long-lasting and expensive."

EdSurge took a close look at the situation and potential solutions; including a few trends captured in Data Quality Campaign’s annual review of state data-related legislation. One concern: the DQC report found that 120 of the 131 bills introduced either required new data collection or updates to current practices, and some worry the more data that schools collect, the more they become “honey pots of highly sensitive information.” This is especially true for larger school districts, which “manage more money, have more users, and manage far more devices and services than smaller districts—all of which increases their vulnerability to cyberattacks.”

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Academic Integrity Debates Return

As the end of the semester approaches, many students are preparing for final exams. And while the use of online proctoring has fallen from the peak of the pandemic as schools and even some proctoring companies adjust their practices in response to a variety of privacy and ethical concerns, the market is seemingly here to stay. My colleague Lauren Merk recently published an in-depth analysis of a legal ruling that found that a public university’s use of room-scanning technology during a remotely proctored exam violated a student’s Fourth Amendment right to privacy. While she notes that Fourth Amendment cases are especially fact-dependent, “Entities that employ proctoring software should be mindful of the Court’s reasoning and consider potential legal risks and privacy implications before employing proctoring technologies or requiring room scans within the home.”

The news that students are using AI to write their essays - avoiding plagiarism detection software and in some cases, getting straight A’s - has the academic world talking (and tweeting!).  While some argue this is “nothing to worry about” others are concerned that new “worryingly good” tools may “kill college writing” and make it “easier than ever for students to cheat.”

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Online Harassment and Safety Tips

Online harassment targeting teachers is on the rise; 59% of teachers, 58% of administrators, 48% of support staff, and 38% of school psychologists in the US reported experiencing a form of harassment between 2020 and 2021. Asian American students also reported an alarming rise in cyberbullying during the pandemic, and student journalists are increasingly becoming targets.

A new FPF resource outlines practical steps that educators can take to improve their online safety and lower their risk, as well as what to do if they are being harassed. It is good advice for anyone to follow - things like enabling two-factor authentication, turning off location data tracking, and how to request that your personal information be removed.

And I’d be remiss to not flag a less traditional approach to educate folks about their risks online: a TikToker who is ‘consensually doxxing’ people in her comments section to educate them about privacy, tracking down the names and birthdates of users even with private accounts.