Joe Fay reports: An Austrian digital privacy group has claimed victory over Microsoft after the country’s data protection regulator ruled the software giant “illegally” tracked students via its 365 Education platform and used their data. noyb said the ruling [PDF] by the Austrian Data Protection Authority also confirmed that Microsoft had tried to shift responsibility for access requests to...

From the Federal Trade Commission: The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against the operator of the Sendit anonymous messaging app for unlawfully collecting personal data from children, misleading users by sending messages from fake “people,” and tricking consumers into purchasing paid subscriptions by falsely promising to reveal the senders of anonymous messages. A complaint,...

SC Media reports: TikTok was found by Canadian privacy authorities to have implemented inadequate data protections for children accessing its platform, according to Reuters. Aside from failing to adopt mechanisms that would prevent access to individuals younger than 13, TikTok has also obtained excessive data from its child users and then leveraged it for online...

From the Federal Trade Commission: The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against robot toy maker Apitor Technology over allegations that its app enabled a third party in China to collect geolocation information from children without parental consent. A complaint, filed by the Department of Justice upon notification and referral from the FTC, alleges that despite...

From the Federal Trade Commission: Disney will pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company allowed personal data to be collected from children who viewed kid-directed videos on YouTube without notifying parents or obtaining their consent as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule). The proposed order would transform how the...

Alex A. Lozada and Tu Le of Atkinson Andelson Loya Ruud & Romo write: Two recent federal lawsuits filed against school districts in Lawrence, Kansas and Marana, Arizona highlight emerging legal challenges surrounding the use of AI surveillance tools in the educational setting. Both cases involve Gaggle, a comprehensive AI student safety platform, and center...

Christopher Brown reports: PowerSchool Holdings LLC and the Chicago Board of Education are set to face most claims of a proposed class action alleging they illegally collected and disclosed students’ personal information through a higher-education preparedness platform. The anonymous plaintiff and his parent adequately pleaded claims of breach of contract and violations of the Electronic...

Simon Sharwood reports: Australia’s University of Melbourne last year used Wi-Fi location data to identify student protestors. The University used Wi-Fi to identify students who participated in July 2024 sit-in protest. As described in a report [PDF] into the matter by the state of Victoria’s Office of the Information Commissioner, the University directed protestors to leave the...

Jonathan Stempel reports: Google will pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated the privacy of children using YouTube by collecting their personal information without parental consent, and using it to send targeted ads. A preliminary settlement of the proposed class action was filed on Monday night in San Jose, California, federal court,...

Schools and lawmakers are grappling with how to address a new form of peer-on-peer image-based sexual abuse that disproportionately targets girls. By: Jasmine Mithani for The 19th This story was published in partnership with The 19th News, an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Last October, a 13-year-old boy in Wisconsin used...

Josh Gerstein reports: The Supreme Court has upheld a Texas law that requires porn websites to verify that their visitors are 18 or older. The justices rejected a First Amendment challenge to the law. The court said in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines that protecting children from sexually explicit material online justifies the burden that the...

Ben Breen reports: One of the ten bills Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed Thursday has the goal of making Vermont children safer online. The bill faces challenges in court, but its supporters say it is necessary in a rapidly changing world. Senate Bill 69, known as the Vermont Kids Code, aims to protect kids from...

Shawn Musgrave reports: Newly unsealed records provide new details about the Trump administration’s failed effort this spring to obtain a search warrant for an Instagram account run by student protesters at Columbia University. The FBI and federal prosecutors sought a sweeping warrant, the records show, that would have identified the people who ran the account along with...