Google has responded to the recent Electronics Frontier Foundation (EFF) complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against it, claiming that its educational products have been dishonestly violating students' privacy, including through Chrome Sync. The search giant stated in a blog post that its tools and services comply with laws and its own promises.
On December 1, Tuesday, the EFF reported that it had requested the United States' FTC to investigate Google. It claimed the tech company was gathering and data mining schoolchildren's personal data including their Web searches, without receiving the students' or parents' permission.
The EFF stated that Google's actions broke the Student Privacy Pledge, which over 200 companies have signed. It can be legally carried out.
A Google spokesperson told VentureBeat that the company keeps students' personal information both private and secure. It claimed it had not broken the Student Privacy Pledge, according to VentureBeat.
Google Apps for Education's (GAFE) Director Jonathan Rochelle stated that Google's goal is to give students and teachers access to tools for teaching and learning. He said that the tech giant keeps students' information private.
Rochelle explained that GAFE data is only used so students can work together on projects. In addition, no ads are shown for services such as Docs, Drive, Hangouts, and Sheets.
The EFF's complaint was partly about the Chrome Sync feature, which allows Google account holders to mirror pages, bookmarks, and apps across Chrome browsers or Chromebook computers.
Rochelle explained that Sync's data only powers Chrome features for individual users. All users' data is collected to improve the Alphabet subsidiary's services.
Google has many educational programs. They include low-cost tablets and Chromebook laptops, and free mobile apps for teachers and students, according to Computerworld.