The Inspectorate of Education is concerned that Google may provide information to US authorities about students using the company’s cloud service in school.
As one of the first large municipalities in the country, Trondheim has signed an agreement with Google. Students in the municipality can henceforth use Google’s ad-free cloud G Suite for Education (GSE).
In the agreement, the municipality has given the company permission to scan students’ schoolwork.
They also provided the proviso that Google must be able to provide information to US authorities, if they are so requested, Klassekampen reports.
– If Google want something, they can do it without anybody being aware that they are doing it. No one can go check into Google’s algorithms. You just have to trust them, says senior engineer Martha Eike in the Inspectorate.
Privacy researcher at the University of Oslo, Gisle Hannemyr, also reacts to the deal.
– The problem is false positives, says Hannemyr. He explains to the newspaper that if a student “writes about the nobility in committing acts of terrorism”, the US government will be interested in this. The Student is thereby risking reactions, he said.
The Trondheim municipality assures on its website that children’s privacy is safeguarded. Project Manager for ICT in Trondheim, Siw Olsen Fjørtoft, said the agreement the municipality has done with Google is safe and not abusable.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
