The Data Mining Threat to

Children

SafeGov.org jeff.gould@safegov.org

March 2014

“We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or

less know what you’re thinking about.”

- Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

“If you have something that you don’t

want anyone to know maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

- Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

“Google policy is to get right up to the

creepy line and not cross it.”

- Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google

“Nude Webcams and Diet Drugs: the Facebook Ads Teens Aren't Supposed

to See”

Wall Street Journal article, Feb 27, 2014

The developer of an app called “Ilikeq” put an ad on Facebook aimed at teens inviting them to download the app “to let others rate their attractiveness, comment on their photos and say if they would like to date them”. Source: Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, 2014

Sophie “liked” a Facebook ad that promoted a Facebook page recruiting adult nude webcam models. "I just thought it was for modeling, and I'm interested in that, and I thought it would help me out" Source: Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, 2014

Tyrell has repeatedly seen ads for gun holsters on Facebook. The vendor’s web page was “liked” by a friend of his. Tyrell lives in Oakland, California, which has one of the highest murder rates in the U.S. Source: Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, 2014

6%

18%

22%

54%

A great deal Some

A little Nothing at all

Most parents are not aware of data mining;

only 1 in 17 parents have heard “a great deal”

about the practice

QUESTION: At some schools, certain Internet companies may be tracking the email and web browsing habits of children in order to target them with Internet advertising. This practice is sometimes known as “data mining”. Whether or not you are familiar with the term “data mining”, please indicate how much you have seen, read or heard about this practice.

56% 40% Fathers vs. Mothers

35% 63% 76% Primary or

secondary

education

vs. University

graduates

vs. Masters

degree or

higher

Awareness of data

mining is higher

among fathers and

parents with the

most formal

education

46% aware

What Google Knows About You…

• Everything in the emails you send and receive

• 90% of the web pages you visit

• What you watch on YouTube (and soon on TV)

• What ads you click on

• Where you live, work, shop and hang out

• The names in your address book

• How fast you drive

• Where you are now, where you went last night

• Everything they can deduce from the above…

Power of Facebook Likes

• Analyzed 9.9 million “Likes” from 58,000 volunteers

– Volunteers also gave detailed demographic &

psychological data

• Probability of correct prediction for…

– Race (95%), gender (93%), sexual orientation (88%), left

or right politics (85%), Christian or Muslim (82%), IQ

(78%), age (75%), smokes (73%), relationship status

(67%), use drugs (65%), parents together at age 21

(60%)…

“Private traits and attributes are predictable from digital

records of human behavior”

Kosinksi et al., 2012 (Cambridge U. & Microsoft Research)

But surely this isn’t happening

in schools?

Yes it is happening in schools, and on a

vast scale

• Google Apps for Education (GAFE) boasts tens of

millions of student users around the world

• Google promises not serve ads to kids in school

• But insists on giving schools the option have ads

• Until recently, Google said it did not data mine

student emails in GAFE

• But in a U.S. court case it now admits that it does

Google’s own lawyers say Gmail

users have “no legitimate

expectation of privacy”

“Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their communications are processed by the recipient’s ECS provider in the course of delivery. Indeed, ‘a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.’ Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743-44 (1979).” Case No. 5:13-md-02430-LHK DEFENDANT GOOGLE INC.’S MOTION TO DISMISS PLAINTIFFS’ CONSOLIDATED INDIVIDUAL AND CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT;MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT THEREOF Date: September 5, 2013

Google’s own lawyers now

admit that even when ad

serving is turned off, Google

Apps for Education emails are

still scanned for ad-serving

purposes outside of school

In short, the world’s largest provider of

Internet email to schools and universities

(which also happens to be the world’s

largest advertising firm) admits that it is

reading students’ emails in order to target

them with ads…

And not just any ads, but remarkably

effective ads carefully targeted according to

detailed personal profiles of each individual

student.

Advertising is not evil, but it does not

belong in schools

• Not all ads promote dangerous behaviors or

unhealthy products

• But some do…

– Junk food, Gambling, Drugs, Sex…

• Children will always see such ads outside of school

(and we must try to protect them)

• But that is no reason to allow advertising into

schools (even “safe” ads)

Australian parents want contracts with

email service providers to ban online ads

and profiling in schools

QUESTION: Please tell me if you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with each statement?

9%

64%

73%

74%

32%

26%

17%

16%

30%

6%

5%

6%

29%

5%

4%

4%

0% 50% 100%

4 - Agree 3 2 1 - Disagree

Schools that accept free email services from Internet

advertising firms should insist on contracts that

expressly ban the exploitation of children’s email for

any ad-related purposes.

Schools that accept free email services from Internet

advertising firms should require the companies to

offer a privacy policy with strict guarantees against

user profiling or web tracking.

Schools that accept free email services from Internet

advertising firms should insist on contracts that

require that all ad-related functions to be completely

removed from the software (not merely turned off).

Schools should be allowed to accept free email

services from Internet advertising firms.

Internet firms that sell to schools must be

transparent about how their products work

• Google and Facebook are not “evil”…

• Their competitors (Microsoft, Yahoo, Twitter, etc.)

are not automatically “good”…

• But Google and Facebook have undeniably crossed

the “creepy” line and must be held accountable

What Can We Do?

• Educate parents, school leaders, policy makers

• Introduce appropriate regulations

• Demand transparency from vendors

• Encourage competition among vendors to deliver

better privacy and drive a “race to the top”