Governments Endanger Children's Rights in Online Education-HRW Report

Governments of 49 of the world’s most populous countries harmed children’s rights by endorsing online learning products during Covid-19 school closures without adequately protecting children’s privacy, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 25, 2022.

The report was released at the same time as publications by media organisations around the world that had early access to Human Rights Watch findings and were engaged in an independent collaborative investigation.

"'How Dare They Peep Into My Private Life?': Children's Rights Violations by Governments Endorsing Online Learning During the Covid-19 Pandemic," is based on Human Rights Watch's technical and policy analysis of 164 education technology (EdTech) products endorsed by 49 countries.

It includes a review of 290 companies discovered to have collected, processed, or received children's data since March 2021, as well as a call for governments to enact modern child data protection laws to protect children online.

146 (89 percent) of the 164 EdTech products reviewed appeared to engage in data practises that threatened or infringed on children's rights.

These products monitored or had the capability of monitoring children, most of the time secretly and without the consent of the children or their parents, harvesting personal data such as who they are, where they are, what they do in the classroom, who their family and friends are, and what kind of device their families could afford for them to use.

The majority of online learning platforms investigated installed tracking technologies that followed children outside of their virtual classrooms and across the internet over time.

Some invisibly tagged and fingerprinted children in ways that were impossible to avoid or erase – even if the children, parents, and teachers were aware and desired to do so – without destroying the device.

Most online learning platforms sent or gave advertising technology (AdTech) companies access to children's data. As a result, some EdTech products used behavioural advertising to target children.

These companies not only distorted children's online experiences by using data extracted from educational settings to target them with personalised content and advertisements that follow them across the internet, but they also risked influencing their opinions and beliefs at a time in their lives when they are vulnerable to manipulative interference.

Many more EdTech products sent data about children to AdTech firms that specialise in behavioural advertising or whose algorithms determine what children see online.

Except for Morocco, all governments examined in this report supported at least one EdTech product that jeopardised or undermined children's rights.

The majority of EdTech products were provided to governments at no direct financial cost.

By endorsing and facilitating the widespread adoption of EdTech products, governments shifted the true costs of providing online education onto children, who were unknowingly forced to pay for their education with their rights to privacy and access to information, as well as their potential freedom of thought.

Few governments investigated whether the EdTech they quickly endorsed or purchased for schools was safe for children to use.

As a result, children whose families could afford or made significant sacrifices to access the internet were exposed to the privacy practises of the EdTech products they were told or required to use during Covid-19 school closures.

Many governments have jeopardised or directly violated children's rights.

39 of the 42 governments that provided online education to children by developing and distributing their own EdTech products for use during the pandemic handled children's personal data in ways that endangered or infringed on their rights.

Some governments have made it mandatory for students and teachers to use their EdTech product, exposing them to the risks of data misuse or exploitation and making it impossible for children to protect themselves by choosing alternative methods of accessing their education.

These data surveillance practises were largely unknown to children, parents, and teachers. Human Rights Watch discovered that the data surveillance occurred in virtual classrooms and educational settings where children could not reasonably object.

In most cases, children could not opt-out of such surveillance and data collection without opting out of compulsory education and abandoning formal learning during the pandemic.

Human Rights Watch conducted its technical analysis of the products between March and August 2021, and then confirmed its findings in the report.

Each analysis essentially captured the prevalence and frequency of tracking technologies embedded in each product on a specific date within that window.

That prevalence and frequency may change over time due to a variety of factors, which means that an analysis performed at a later date may reveal variations in the behaviour of the products.

Human Rights Watch cannot draw definitive conclusions about the companies' motivations for engaging in these actions other than reporting on what it observed in the data and the companies' and governments' own statements.

Human Rights Watch shared its findings with the 95 EdTech companies, 196 AdTech companies, and 49 governments covered in this report, allowing them to respond with comments and clarifications.

As of May 24, 12 p.m. EDT, 48 EdTech companies, 78 AdTech companies, and 10 governments had responded.

Several EdTech companies denied collecting data on children. Some businesses denied that their products were designed for children. AdTech companies denied knowing the data was being sent to them, claiming that it was their clients' responsibility not to send them children's data in the first place.

These and other comments are reflected and addressed as appropriate in the report.

As more children spend more of their childhood online, their reliance on the connected world and digital services that enable their education will almost certainly continue long after the pandemic is over.

Governments should enact and enforce modern child data protection legislation that safeguards the collection, processing, and use of children's data. Companies must immediately cease collecting, processing, and sharing children's data in ways that endanger or violate their rights.

Human Rights Watch has launched a global campaign, #StudentsNotProducts, to rally parents, teachers, children, and allies in support of this call and to demand online child protection.

“Children shouldn’t be compelled to give up their privacy and other rights in order to learn,” Han said.

“Governments should urgently adopt and enforce modern child data protection laws to stop the surveillance of children by actors who don’t have children’s best interests at heart.”