FAQ on inBloom Inc.: what is the state and your school district doing?
A shorter version of this FAQ was published in Schoolbook yesterday; please go leave a comment. A pdf version of the below you can download is here. And please make your voices heard by sending a letter to your school board, your elected officials, and the Regents about this important issue.
FAQ on inBloom Inc.
Just as the federal government has been far from forthcoming about its surveillance and data-mining of ordinary Americans, education officials in New York and elsewhere have been remarkably secretive about their plans to share substantial amounts of students’ personal information with a corporation called inBloom Inc., and through inBloom, with for-profit vendors.
Though Class Size Matters and our attorneys urged the New York State Education Department to hold hearings about their participation in this data-sharing project in October 2012, then called the “Shared Learning Collaborative,” the state replied that this was unnecessary because they had “made significant efforts to inform the public …and to provide details about what the system would do and how it works.” At the time, however, few if any parents or elected officials knew about their plans, and even now, many parents are not aware of the state’s intention to share their children’s most sensitive data with third parties. Moreover, the state has refused to answer many of our questions, including which data in particular is being shared, or respond to the concerns of parents.
Indeed, to this day much confusion persists. An editor of a major New York daily recently wrote to a reader that they were unable to confirm