The state of New Mexico is suing Google for illegally violating the privacy of students by secretly collecting sensitive data through Google “Chromebooks” and the company’s infamous “G Suite for Education.” While Google (sort of) denies the charges, it seems clear that the Orwellian tech company known for discriminating against conservatives is up to no good.
The federal lawsuit, which was filed by New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas late last month, accuses the company of multiple violations of federal and state law. As part of its snooping on students, the Big Tech giant is collecting data on students’ locations, web browsing habits, search terms, videos watched, personal contact lists, voice recordings, passwords, and more, the suit alleges.
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Google has also “deceived” parents and officials, according to the lawsuit. While pretending to be a “benign tool,” the company’s education schemes are used to secretly “monitor children while they browse the Internet, including in their private homes, on their private computers and phones, and on their private networks,” the suit argues, painting the Google tools as a Trojan horse to lawlessly spy on kids.
According to the complaint, Google has “infiltrated” more than half of America’s primary and secondary schools, partly by “purposefully” obscuring the cost. That means 80 million American students and educators are having their digital lives and data vacuumed up by a company known for scandal, in addition to being groomed to rely on Google products in the future.
“Student safety should be the number one priority of any company providing services to our children, particularly in schools,” said AG Balderas. “Tracking student data without parental consent is not only illegal, it is dangerous; and my office will hold any company accountable who compromises the safety of New Mexican children.”
Balderas took on Google in 2018, too. Among other concerns, he accused the powerful company of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits snooping on children. That lawsuit, which is independent from the more recent one, is still ongoing, court records indicate. New Mexico’s top lawyer is also working on the national anti-trust investigation into the company along with attorneys general from other states.
“These practices do not simply violate federal law, nor do they merely impact children under the age of 13,” the state said in its lawsuit. “Covertly monitoring children of all ages, despite unambiguous representations to the contrary, violates longstanding rights rooted in the common law as well as New Mexico’s statutory prohibitions on unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable business practice.”
Naturally, Google, which has armies of attorneys, denies the charges. “These claims are factually wrong. G Suite for Education allows schools to control account access and requires that schools obtain parental consent when necessary,” claimed Jose Castaneda, a spokesman for the company. “We do not use personal information from users in primary and secondary schools to target ads. School districts can decide how best to use Google for Education in their classrooms and we are committed to partnering with them.”
Google is a firm that has become synonymous with rigging search-engine results in favor of Democrats and establishment narratives against Republicans, conservatives, and Christians. Even liberal Democrat experts such as Robert Epstein have argued that Google is shifting millions of votes toward Democrats, undermining American elections while making billions off naive consumers.
At this point, it is clear that Google is an evil company. It should not be trusted with anything. And it has no business in the classroom spying on children. New Mexico’s attorney general should inspire other state officials across the nation to take action against this predatory company that is manipulating and spying on captive victims stuck in government schools.
Photo: Savusia Konstantin/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus
This article originally appeared at FreedomProject Media and is reprinted here with permission.
