Media coverage and publications
These stories and media coverage are about a wide range of content related to education and data, privacy and digital rights, and provide a record of some of the issues in the UK media and relevant topics in education and technology; some of which make reference to our work.
2024
- Schools Week OpEd New ministers are taking the lead on AI – but at which end?(September 9)
- Schools Week School reprimanded over illegal use of facial recognition technology (July 24)
- The Register School gets an F for using facial recognition on kids in canteen
- Computer Weekly ICO reprimands Essex school for illegal facial recognition use
- BBC School used facial recognition illegally in canteen
- The Telegraph School reprimanded for illegally using facial recognition software in canteen
- The Independent School reprimanded after using facial recognition technology to take canteen payments from pupils
- Business insider A school used facial recognition tech for cafeteria payments. An internet law expert says it’s rarely worth the risk.
- School Management Plus Watchdog raps school over facial recognition technology
- TES Warning over use of facial recognition tech in schools
- The Epoch Times Data Watchdog Reprimands Essex School for Using Facial Recognition in Canteens
- ICO Essex school reprimanded after using facial recognition technology for canteen payments (July 23)
- Schools Week Revealed: Secret deal to let ‘benefit fraud squad’ snoop on pupil data (May 9)
- Schools Week Opinion: Schools must step up to defend families from data intrusion (May 10)
2023
- Politico clip, ahead of the November 29 House of Commons Report Stage debate on the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
- House of Lords short debate Educational Technology Vol. 834 November 23, 2023 [view transcript Hansard html] [view parliamentary TV from 16:00]
- Mind and Iron The beautiful/grim future of AI companions
- Schools Week 30k primary pupils’ data may be at risk after Capita cyber attack (September 2023) “Documents obtained by Schools Week reveal up to 30,000 pupil personal data records under the STA contract are “believed to have been exfiltrated”.
- Education Select Committee Report: HC 970 Persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils (September 2023) p12 (14 of 79)
- LSE blog Automation in education – is EdTech a threat to public values?
- Schools Week Minister wants schools to benefit from AI Revolution (#AI)
- Center for Democracy and Technology EU Tech Policy Brief: February 2023
- Biometric Update Scottish schools’ canteen facial recognition ‘likely infringed’ GDPR: ICO (#AI)
- UK Authority ICO highlights rules for facial recognition in schools
- Planet Radio North Ayrshire Council ‘likely’ to have breached data law with facial recognition tech in schools
- TechMonitor A local authority in Scotland has been reprimanded by the regulator for infringing data laws
- Reuters Italy bans U.S.-based AI chatbot Replika from using personal data (#AI)
2022
November
- Financial Times UK government data breach for millions of children ruled unlawful
- The Guardian ‘Woeful’ DfE blamed as betting firms gain access to children’s data
- ITV DfE reprimanded after allowing gambling companies to access children’s learning records
- The Telegraph Betting firms access up to 28m children’s exam results in data blunder
- Schools Week DfE reprimanded after pupil data used by gambling firms
- TES DfE warned after ‘woeful’ data breach helped betting firms
- Cambridge Times Department for Education reprimanded over ‘woeful’ betting firms data breach
- Tech Monitor ‘Woeful’ Department for Education criticised after children’s data used by betting companies
- Morning Star Government allowed gambling firms to have illegal access to millions of schoolchildren data
- The Northern Echo Department for Education reprimanded over ‘woeful’ betting firms data breach
- Casino Beats ‘Woeful’ Department for Education reprimanded for ‘unacceptable’ data breach
- Sports Betting Community news DfE blamed for data breach which provided age check services for online gambling
- Ireland Live Department for Education reprimanded over woeful betting firms data breach
- The Independent Department for Education reprimanded over ‘woeful’ betting firms data breach
- UK Authority ICO rebukes DfE after school pupil database used by gambling firms
- ICO media Department for Education warned after gambling companies benefit from learning records database
October
- Local Government Lawyer Pre-action protocol letter claims Department for Education continues to breach GDPR over pupil data two years on from ICO audit
- Schools Week DfE faces legal challenge over how it handles pupil data
September
- TechMonitor ‘Unnecessary and disproportionate’: Concern over Department for Education’s school attendance data collection
- Schools Week Information watchdog sounds alarm over live school attendance tracker
August
- Bloomberg UK’s Data Regulator Yet to Enforce Single Child Protection Case
- The Register WhatsApp boss says no to AI filters policing encrypted chat (Reference to project together with CRIN)
July
- News From Wales Bridgend MS Welcomes New Welsh Government Guidance On The Use Of Fingerprint Collection Of School Pupils In Wales
- Periodico “Miles de desconocidos tienen acceso a la vida de tus hijos”
- NacioDigital «A partir dels cinc anys ja perdem el control sobre la petjada digital dels nens»
- Schools Week Campaigners warn against dangerous children’s register
May
- Guardian Opinion : Stephanie Hare – Face up to it – this surveillance of kids in school is creepy
- Biometric Update: UK schools introducing biometrics without due care, legal backing, report says
April
March
- Telegraph Letter to the Editor (Miscounting children not in education) [open copy]
- Schools Week Opinion The Online Safety Bill
2021
November
- Schools Week opinion Why schools should just say no to biometric systems
- The House We urgently need to tighten data protection laws to protect children from facial recognition in schools
- House of Lords debate (November 4) Watch from 14:38
- House of Lords debate (November 4) full transcript (Hansard)
- House of Lords Short debate briefing: Facial recognition technology in schools
October
- Ministerial Questions in the Scottish Parliament (Oct 28)
- The Times Facial recognition tech in schools is disproportionate, says Sturgeon
- BBC News Schools pause facial recognition lunch plans
- The Daily Record Scots schools forced to ‘pause’ school meals facial recognition payment system over ‘privacy intrusion’ concerns
- Adrossan Herad Controversial facial recognition software in North Ayrshire schools suspended after a WEEK
- ZDNet Schools put the brakes on facial recognition scheme for kids buying lunch
- Schools Week Facial recognition systems off the menu as schools reverse plans
- STV News Schools halt canteen facial recognition rollout amid concerns
- TES Use of facial recognition in schools: what we know
- The Register UK schools slap a hold on facial scanning of children amid fierce criticism
- The Guardian ‘Conditioning an entire society’: the rise of biometric data technology
- The Mail+ “I find trialing facial recognition technology on our school children creepy and extremely concerning”
- Comment Central The use of facial recognition in school lunch queues is a step too far
- SkyNews 27 schools in England using facial recognition to take lunch payments
- Watch North Ayrshire council in Scotland discussing the Facial Recognition rollout in schools
- Independent Voices Keep facial recognition technology out of the school lunch queue
- ImpACT Int’l New facial recognition technology breaches privacy of students in schools across Scotland, UK
- ITPro Scottish schools serve up facial recognition for school dinners
- Adrossan Herald North Ayrshire: Facial recognition in schools to pay for lunch
- The Independent Facial recognition cameras installed in UK school canteens
- The Guardian comment The Guardian view on biometric technology in schools: watch closely
- The Guardian ICO to step in after schools use facial recognition to speed up lunch queue
- EndGadget UK schools will use facial recognition to speed up lunch payments
- The FT Facial recognition cameras arrive in UK school canteens
March
- Schools Week DfE finally deletes pupil nationality and country of birth data
- Birmingham Mail Concern at West Midlands Police proposals to use crime data to identify young ‘violent offenders’ in school catchment areas [link]
February
- BBC Parents alerted to NurseryCam security breach
- The Register NurseryCam hacked, company shuts down IoT camera service
January
2020
October
- Schools Week DfE broke student data protection laws, damning ICO audit reveals
- Schools Week opinion Unlawful, unsafe and unaccountable. Education, we have a data problem
- Public Technology net DfE broke data-protection law, ICO investigation finds
- Evening Express Department for Education in ‘direct breach’ of data protection law – watchdog
- The Guardian The Department for Education’s handling of pupil data ruled illegal
- TES DfE broke the law on pupil data protection
- Computer Weekly Department for Education failed to protect data on millions of children, says ICO
- ZDNet UK Department For Education fails to meet UK, GDPR data protection standards – with flying colors
- Cumberland News Department for Education in ‘direct breach’ of data protection law – watchdog
- This is Local London Department for Education in ‘direct breach’ of data protection law – watchdog
- Teiss ICO finds DfE seriously violated data protection rules
- The London Economic Department for Education in ‘direct breach’ of data law
August
- TalkRadio: in conversation with Penny Smith on Algorithms and A-levels and Why an audit is needed of all systems across the public sector
April
- Digital News Daily Watchdogs Seek New Privacy Protections For Students
- MultiChannel News Human Rights Groups: Kids Need Protection from EdTech Commercialization
- Politico Kids Corner
- Common Dreams Rights of Children at Risk at ‘An Unprecedented Speed and Scale’ as School Closures Drive Turn to Online Learning
January
- The Sunday Times (first reported) Revealed: betting firms use schools data on 28m children
- BBC Papers [Link From 11:33 — 13:29] “I didn’t know this, there is a database of every school child including their home address.”
- Daily Mail Betting firms were granted access to database of 28 MILLION children and used it to boost number of young gamblers by up to 15% in one of Britain’s biggest ever data breaches
- City AM Gambling companies used schools data on 28m children
- SBC News (Gambling newsite) UK betting faces crossfire of educational data breach
- TES Breach of government database allows betting firms to boost the proportion of young people who gamble online
- SC Media (Cyber security) Betting businesses used education data of 28m UK children: Report
- Schools Week ESFA launches investigation after betting companies access data on 28 million children
- FE Week DfE granted screening firm access to 28m learner records
- Cheshire Live: Chester data firm investigating claims over potential data breach
- Public Technology ‘No individual data’ compromised during massive DfE breach, minister claims
2019
November
- Open Democracy Another brick in the wall – can we save child rights from school surveillance?
- Schools Week: DfE facing action over ‘wide ranging and serious’ data protection breaches
- The Guardian Department of Education criticised for secretly sharing children’s data
September
- The Register Pupil mental health monitor promises app rewrite after hardcoded login creds discovered
July
- Schools Week: ICO receives hundreds of unnecessary school referrals as leaders struggle with GDPR
- BBC Radio 4: Today Programme 27 July, 2019 [extract 3:06]
- Buzzfeed: The Sexual Orientation And Religious Beliefs Of Millions Of Students Is Being Held On A Government Database
- Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit: [German regulator decision on Cloud services using school children’s data] Stellungnahme des Hessischen Beauftragten für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit zum Einsatz von Microsoft Office 365 in hessischen Schulen (Google, Apple, et al).
- Republik: Der Spion im Schulzimmer [In German; The Spy in the School] Google rüstet den digitalen Klassenraum aus – und sammelt so die Daten von Minderjährigen. Kann die Schweiz die Totalüberwachung noch stoppen?
June
- The Telegraph: Universities to trawl through students’ social media to look for suicide risk, under new project
April
- Published reply in the Telegraph Letters to the Secretary of State for Education in the Sunday Telegraph on 21 April. World Without SATs.
March
- Sky news: Predictive algorithms in the public sector. How unregulated software using predictive algorithms is starting to colonise large areas of the public sector, often having a big impact on peoples’ lives.
January
- The Guardian Schools census used to enforce immigration laws, minister says
- Daily Mail University accused of using ‘sinister’ surveillance technology to track what websites its students are looking at
2018
December
November
- The Register As if connected toys weren’t creepy enough, kids’ data could be used against them in future
October
- The Guardian Student loans firm accused of ‘KGB tactics’ for assessing eligibility
- Schools Week ONS ‘takes charge of pupil data sharing policy’
September
- Schools Week DfE’s new pupil data sharing policy
- Schools Week Delete pupil nationality data or face legal action, campaigners warn ministers
August
July
- TalkRADIO: With John Nicolson, on new COE Guidelines to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of the child in the digital environment [in section 17:00-17:30, starts from 24:45]
June
- Government Computing Schools no longer required to collect pupils’ nationality data, DFE says
- The Guardian Schools no longer required to record pupils’ nationality
- The Register No more slurping of kids’ nationalities, Brit schools told
- Schools Week DfE: Schools ‘must no longer request’ pupil nationality data
- The Telegraph University students’ data to be shared with private companies
May
- BBC Sharing of school pupils’ data put on hold
- The Register Victoria’s educational apps-for-students let creeps contact kids
April
- The Times ClassDojo is harvesting data on how British schoolchildren behave
- Daily Mail Parents fear app is storing private data in the US on how their children behave
- New Statesman Teachers won’t forget the botched attempt to create a “hostile environment” in our schools
- Schools Week DfE ends divisive pupil nationality data collection
- BBC Schools ‘to drop gathering nationality data’
- The Times Schools can stop listing nationalities of pupils
- The Register UK.gov expected to quit controversial harvesting of schoolchildren’s nationality data
- The Guardian DfE set to axe pupil data-sharing deal with Home Office
- The Independent Schools no longer have to collect data on pupils’ nationality and country of birth
- Education Executive Government ‘to drop gathering nationality data’
- The Canary The government abandons a ‘hostile’ and ‘poisonous’ education policy in a ‘major u-turn’
March
February
- Public Law Today DfE faces legal action over collection of data of children in ‘alternative provision’ #LabelsLastaLifetime
- Schools Week Government faces second judicial review over pupil data collection #LabelsLastaLifetime
- The Sun Surveillance feeds from four schools were among hundreds of British security systems broken into and streamed on a creepy US website
January
- Sky News
- TES Local authorities collecting sensitive pupil data without consent #LabelsLastaLifetime
2017
December
The Observer Plan to collect data on excluded pupils could put them at ‘lifelong risk’ of stigma and Letter to the Editor Children’s privacy at risk #LabelsLastaLifetime
Buzzfeed The Names Of Children Who Leave School Due To Mental Illness Will Now Be Added To A Government Database #LabelsLastaLifetime
The Register UK.gov told: Your frantic farming of pupils’ data is getting a little creepy #LabelsLastaLifetime
Schools Week Schools fail to ‘obtain’ nationality data on quarter of pupils
Schools Week Opinion Government needs to rethink the alternative provision census expansion #LabelsLastaLifetime
Sky News
October
Schools Week Pregnant? Offender? What the government wants to know about AP pupils #LabelsLastaLifetime
The Morning Star The recklessness of the National Pupil Database
Sky News We must resist border controls in schools
Left Foot Forward Parents and teachers call for school census boycott amid deportation fears
Politics.co.uk The real Theresa May: How the PM tried to introduce immigration checks in schools
September
Private Eye Class War – Nationality monitoring
Schools Week Information Commissioner cracks down on pupil nationality data collection
July/August
Bristol Cable [Summer Issue 12]: Schools, Children’s Data and Immigration Enforcement
The Teacher, NUT Magazine “Call to end sale of pupil data“
UK Authority DfE works on privacy API for National Pupil Database
June
Open Democracy Child safeguarding cloaks state surveillance and data exploitation
May
Schools Week Hackers steal Edmodo users’ details
Open Democracy Refuse, retract, resist: boycott the school census
Huffington Post The School Census Is Turning Sanctuaries Of Learning And Growth Into Places Of Discrimination And Division – It Must Be Boycotted
The Independent Parents urged to withhold personal data in latest school census targeting foreign-born children
April
Interview on Partly Political Broadcast By Tiernan Douieb (10 minutes) with Gracie from Against Borders for Children
The Guardian NUT urges parents not to give details of children’s nationality and birthplace
March
The Telegraph Ofsted to spy on Facebook accounts of parents and pupils
Independent Ofsted to consider ‘snooping’ on pupils’ and parents’ Facebook pages to monitor school performance
The I-newspaper Ofsted to ‘snoop’ on parents’ and pupils’ social media
The Daily Mail Ofsted wants to snoop on children’s Facebook and Twitter accounts so officials can spot failing schools through signs of unhappiness
Schools Week Ofsted considers tracking Facebook and Twitter to check on schools
CAFCASS blog “Get ‘out there’ to find out what’s going on”
February
Schools Week Government reviews pupil nationality check guidance after schools’ passport demands
January
Huffington Post blog by Green Party leader Jonathan Bartley, The School Gates Should Not Be A Border Checkpoint
Huffington Post University Of Buckingham To Monitor Students’ Social Media Accounts To Tackle Depression And Suicide
BBC Boycott birth census, civil rights group urges parents
Schools Week Refuse, retract, resist school nationality data collection
The Independent Human rights campaigners attack Government’s ‘foreign children list experiment’
Schools Week Human rights charity warns headteachers over pupil nationality data collection
i-News School governors forced to declare nationality to Government
City of Sanctuary guest blog “Let the little children come to me” – the school census boycott
2016
December
The Independent – UK Government apologises to Italian families over ethnicity question in school census
Schools Week – DfE had agreement to share pupil nationality data with Home Office
The Guardian – Pupil data shared with Home Office to ‘create hostile environment’ for illegal migrants
New Statesman – Why does the government want to know your child’s nationality?
Schools Week – Nationality data was ‘compromise’ on Theresa May’s school immigration check plan
Buzzfeed – Here’s Why People Are Worried That The Home Office Wanted To Check On Schools
Guardian Comment is Free – Don’t help the State bully migrants
Schools Week – Wilshaw: I would have refused pupil immigration checks as head
The Mirror Theresa May’s department ‘wanted to shunt illegal immigrants’ kids down the list for school places’
Daily Mail Theresa May’s Home Office ‘wanted to send children of illegal immigrants to the bottom of the list for school places’
Labour list Rayner: May’s plan to put children of illegal immigrants at bottom of school places list shows nasty party is back
TES Theresa May wanted to ‘deprioritise’ children of illegal immigrants on school admissions
RT ‘Deprioritizing’ kids of illegal immigrants for school places was May’s Home Office policy
Daily Record Theresa May ‘wanted illegal immigrants at bottom of list for schools’ as home secretary
Independent Theresa May planned to put immigrant children to bottom of school places list, leaked letters reveal
Telegraph Theresa May called for illegal migrant pupils to be ‘deprioritised’ as Home Secretary
The Guardian – May wanted to ‘deprioritise’ school places for children of people illegally in UK
BBC – Theresa May had plan to ‘deprioritise’ illegal migrant pupils
November
Buzzfeed – Parents Can Now Ask The Government To Delete Their Child’s Country-Of-Birth Data
Diane Abbott, Shadow Home Secretary – Let teachers teach, not act as border guards
Politics Home – The Government has an irrational and damaging determination to campaign against migrants
The Independent – Government scraps plans for controversial nationality census for 2-5 year-olds in humiliating U-turn
The Independent – ‘Racist’ school census that ‘targets two-year-olds’ to go ahead despite growing pressure
Schools Week – MPs hope power of prayer will scrap pupil database changes
Schools Week – Nicky Morgan: I had to ‘fend off ideas’ from Downing Street
The Independent – Government’s controversial school census to record pupil nationality ‘has all the hallmarks of racism’, Lords warn
October
The Guardian – Home Office requested schools census data on nearly 2,500 children
Schools Week – Nationality data won’t be included in National Pupil Database, says minister
The Independent – Schools told to guess pupil ethnicity
Schools Week – DfE refuses to release pupil nationality data agreement
The Guardian Schools – What society lets families fear deportation for sending children to school?
The Guardian UK news- Individual children’s details passed to Home Office for immigration purposes
BBC – UK school pupil ethnicity question angers Italy
Corriere della Sera – Il questionario inglese che scheda gli studenti napoletani e siciliani
La Stampa – L’iscrizione nelle scuole inglesi: “Italiano, siciliano o napoletano?”
The Guardian Opinion – The national pupil database puts children at risk of racial profiling
The Guardian Schools – #BoycottSchoolCensus: why parents are refusing to reveal their child’s nationality
Schools Week – What schools need to know about collecting census nationality data
iNews – Parents call for ‘racist’ immigration request policy to be scrapped from schools
Metro Listing of foreign nationals has actually already begun
Guardian letters – Ignore school census queries on nationality
The Canary – The shocking texts and letters being sent by schools trying to identify ‘non-British’ children [TWEETS]
Buzzfeed – Parents Are Sharing Messages From Schools Asking If Their Child Was Born In The UK
Teacher Toolkit – Misapprehension and Misinformation
September
Media Diversified – New immigration data collection in schools: another brick in the wall
The Independent – Non-white schoolchildren asked to provide proof they are not asylum seekers
Muslim News – Parents urged to boycott schools migrant census
Huffington Post – Parents Urged Not To Disclose Child’s Nationality And Country Of Birth On School Census
The Sun – Human rights groups tell parents to not tell schools where kids were born over immigration clampdown fears
Daily Mail – Parents urged to boycott schools’ country of birth requests
UK Authority – Row blows up over schoolchildren’s birth data
The Guardian – Scrap this pupil data collection: it’s a divisive threat to our children’s safety
The Times (£) – Boycott school data trawl, parents urged
BBC online – Pupil Data ”will not be passed to the Home Office”
The Guardian – Parents urged to boycott requests for children’s country of birth information
Schools Week – Pupils who were not white British told to send in birthplace data
Schools Week, Editorial – Schools are not mini-immigration offices – and never should be
Schools Week – Pupil database changes made ‘without debate’
August
Buzzfeed News Parents Are Worried About Schools’ Plan To Ask What Country Their Child Was Born In
July
LSE Digital parenting School census changes add concerns to the richest education database in the world
Schools Week – Schools must report EAL data differently from September – are you ready?
June
Schools Week Schools must collect data on immigrant children from autumn
Schools Week – Mandatory web monitoring in schools opens a slippery can of worms
April
The Register Stop using USB sticks to move kids’ data, auditor tells Education Dept
February
The Register National Pupil Database engorged to 20 million individual kids’ records
2015
Schools Week – Criminal check needed for access to National Pupil Database
Schools Week Army recruiter considers appeal to access pupil data
Forces Watch ‘Targeted messaging’ in schools about armed forces careers not for the ‘well-being’ of students
Daily Mail How army tried to pry into pupils’ private files
Schools Week – MoD requests sensitive pupil data… by mistake
2014
Wired.co uk Government offers school pupil data to private companies
2012