The Markup, now a part of CalMatters, uses investigative reporting, data analysis, and software engineering to challenge technology to serve the public good.
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Markup → use → good
Sign up for Klaxon, a newsletter that delivers our stories and tools directly to your inbox.
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that → sign → inbox
Inside the classroom, online tools proctor exams, create flashcards and submit assignments.
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tools → proctor → assignments
Outside, technology coordinates school sports, helps bus drivers find the right route and maintains students’ health records.
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drivers → coordinate → records
California has a number of laws aimed at protecting children’s data privacy, but those laws have exceptions that allow many tech companies to continue packaging and selling students’ personal information.
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companies → have → information
This year, Assemblymember Dawn Addis, a San Luis Obispo Democrat, is carrying a high-profile state bill that would add new protections for students.
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that → carry → students
She says it’s important, especially as the Trump admin is trying to collect data about California residents’ immigration status, gender identity, and their use of certain public benefits.
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admin → say → benefits
In 2014, California passed a landmark student privacy law that prohibited technology companies from selling students’ data, targeting students in advertising, or disclosing their personal information.
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that → pass → information
Then in 2018, the state passed another unprecedented bill that required all companies give California users certain privacy rights, such as a chance to opt out of data collection and delete some of their information.
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companies → pass → information
But as technology evolved and proliferated, privacy laws repeatedly fell short in protecting California’s students — at the same time that the federal government has tried to collect increasing amounts of personal information, Addis said.
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Addis → evolve → information
Her bill would restrict how AI companies use student data and create new data protections for college students.
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companies → restrict → students
Some of Sacramento’s most powerful players are paying close attention to the measure, including the California Labor Federation, which supports the bill, and the California Chamber of Commerce, which opposes it.
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which → pay → it
Combined, these two groups spent nearly $8 million on campaign donations to state legislators or other political activities in 2024, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database.
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groups → combine → database
TechNet, a trade association that represents many of the most powerful tech companies, also opposes the bill.
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that → represent → bill
The proposal, Assembly Bill 1159, would close certain loopholes in the state’s 2014 education privacy law, but experts say it may not be enough to prevent companies from selling students’ data.
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it → close → data
Jen King is a privacy and data policy fellow at Stanford’s institute for AI, where she studies the tricks that companies use to gather users’ data and prevent them from opting out, sometimes known as “dark patterns.”
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companies → study → patterns
In her personal life, she’s vigilant about avoiding online data tracking and maintains a landline in her Bay Area home to avoid giving out her cell phone number.
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she → ’ → number
Behind the scenes, it orchestrated opposition
Google organized business owners against California legislation to force its Chrome web browser to safeguard personal data.
King doesn’t want her children’s information available online or for any company to sell, though sometimes it happens before she can stop it.
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she → orchestrate → it
In the fall, King got an email about a platform called TeamSnap, which her 12-year-old son’s cross country coaches were using to manage the team’s roster.
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coaches → get → roster
The company wanted her information, including her name, date of birth, gender, email address, and phone number.
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company → want → birth
Once she logged in to the platform, she could see some of her son’s information, such as his name, email, and date of birth, were already listed.
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some → log → birth
Photos and personal information from all of her son’s teammates were also available for her to see.
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her → see → teammates
“I was super irritated,” she said.
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she → say → ?
“You don’t need my birth date — I’m a freaking parent.”
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I → need → date
She acknowledged some personal information could be useful for a coach but said that other questions seem designed to help the platform sell information to data brokers and ultimately, to advertisers.
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platform → acknowledge → advertisers
Her 17-year-old son’s data is also on TeamSnap, she later learned, because his robotics team uses it.
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team → learn → it
This month, when King tried to show The Markup and CalMatters her TeamSnap account, a pop-up appeared, asking her if the company could track her activity across other apps and websites.
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company → try → apps
Federal law requires companies to get parental consent before knowingly collecting or selling data from children 12 and under, but once a child turns 13, their data is generally treated much like an adult’s information, especially when that child is interacting with tech platforms outside of school.
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child → require → school
TeamSnap’s privacy policy says it doesn’t knowingly collect personal information about users under 13 “without express parental consent,” though it says in some cases a team or organization may provide information on behalf of the child.
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team → say → child
The policy also says that TeamSnap has “not sold the personal information of any consumer for monetary consideration” in the last 12 months, but that its “use of cookies and other tracking technologies may be considered a sale of personal information under the CCPA (California privacy law).”
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use → say → CCPA
Information sold to advertisers and marketers included users’ names, contact information, purchase history and geolocation, the policy says.
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policy → sell → names
California privacy law specifically requires certain large for-profit companies to get consent to collect data from anyone under 16.
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law → require → 16
Often, consent happens when a user first opens a website and a pop-up appears, asking if the website can sell your data or track your cookies.
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website → happen → cookies
If a teacher, coach, or other authority figure tells a student that they have to use a website or an app, then the student cannot realistically opt out, King said.
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King → tell → website
They may be too young to understand how to opt out, she added.
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she → understand → ?
“Most 15-, 16-year-olds don’t have any idea what this is about.”
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this → have → what
Even older college students may have little agency in the technology they use, especially if it’s required for class or residential life.
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it → have → class
At Stanford, for example, King said her undergraduate students are often required to create Facebook accounts for student groups.
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students → say → groups
King said she reluctantly gave TeamSnap her personal information, including her name, email, date of birth, and the landline number for her home, because it was the only way to get updates about her son’s team.
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it → say → team
In 2014, California became the first state in the country to regulate education technology companies directly, but being first
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California → become → companies
…and 35 more, not listed.
