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Public commenter warns committee about student data practices of free EdTech vendors
Summary
A public commenter told the Assembly Education Committee that free education-technology vendors can collect extensive student data, cited Edmodo’s sale to a Chinese company and urged committee staff to accept follow-up material.
A member of the public told the Assembly Education Committee that free education-technology vendors can collect large amounts of student data and urged greater scrutiny of student privacy practices.
John Eppolito of ProtectNevadaChildren.org told the committee that free EdTech platforms are often monetized through student data and argued that parents do not see the student profiles such platforms create. Eppolito cited Edmodo as an example: he said experts estimate tens of millions of U.S. students used Edmodo and that the company was sold to a Chinese entity in February 2018 and later shut down in February 2022. He urged the committee to accept additional written materials and said he would send links to a 2018 congressional hearing in which a law professor warned about merging classroom and out‑of‑class data.
The committee asked Eppolito to provide any additional remarks to committee staff. No other members of the public spoke during the allotted public comment period.
