iPads for kids program sets off password security alarms for parents
ANALYSIS/OPINION: An iPads-for-kids program has parents worried about sending kids to school with their child's Apple ID password and the answers to three Apple ID security questions on paper.
A U.S. federal digital literacy program providing kids with iPads has asked parents to send kids to school on orientation day with their child's name, Apple ID, password, and the answers to three Apple ID security questions -- on a piece of paper.
As you'd expect, putting this information on paper and providing it to the school program is ringing alarms for some tech-savvy parents.
Right now at Knoxville's Bearden and Carter Middle Schools every student is getting iPad Air 2 tablets with 5GB per month data plans under the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS) program (with help from Apple and federal nonprofit Digital Promise).
To use the iPads students need Apple IDs, which requires parental consent. Packets were mailed to parents early this month with a double-sided last page consisting of a consent form and an "Apple ID Worksheet" (.pdf) currently linked from the Bearden Middle School website.
It explains, "As part of the process of creating an Apple ID for your student, we will ask you to provide us with the following information: your student's full name, birthdate, password, and the answers to three security questions."
Worried parents talked to Bearden Middle School staff and told ZDNet, "They apologised about the lack of clarity in the forms we were sent, and said that the security portion is only to expedite the Apple ID setup process, which is going to happen in homeroom orientation. They wanted kids to have their answers ready."
Parents who followed up with the school also discovered another detail not made clear in the packet: While signing the Apple ID consent form is required for program participation, providing their child's password and security questions on paper is not.
A school rep told ZDNet via email, "Password and personal information will reside with parents of course." Parents we spoke with said they were assured that only one side of the iPads for kids program sets off password security alarms for parents | ZDNet:
