Denmark might ban Chromebooks in schools over student data usage
What's the story
Denmark's privacy watchdog, Datatilsysnet, has decided that cities must ensure better privacy protection before using Google services that could expose children's data.
The regulator discovered that Google utilizes student data from Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks for its own purposes, which violates European privacy laws.
Municipalities have until March 1 to outline their plans to comply with the regulation to halt data transfers to Google.
Ban
Potential ban on Chromebooks in Danish schools
From August 1, Danish municipalities will be prohibited from sending student data to Google unless legal changes occur or Google offers a method to exclude students' information.
This may result in Denmark schools completely phasing out Google Chromebooks.
Datatilsysnet believes that using student data for purposes like feature development and performance analytics, is problematic under their interpretation, even if targeted advertising is not involved.
Conditions
When is student data usage permissible?
Datatilsysnet has outlined permissible use cases for student data.
These include "providing educational services offered via Google Workspace, enhancing the security/reliability of the services, ensuring communication, and fulfilling legal obligations."
Non-permissible cases are those pertaining to the maintenance and improvement of the Chrome browser, Google Workspace for Education, and ChromeOS.
Performance improvement and development of new features/services for these platforms, using student data is prohibited.
Failure
Inadequate vetting of Google Workspace for Education
Datatilsysnet asserts that Danish cities failed to adequately assess the risks of using Google Workspace for Education, before approving its use in local schools.
In 2022, the regulator required 53 municipalities to reevaluate their assessments as a necessity for lifting a data-sharing ban for the city of Helsingør, imposed earlier.
During this process, they had to gather data on how Google used the collected student information and where it was sent, leading to the new order.