AFFIRMATIVE-CONSUMER/INTERNET-OTHER AFFIRMATIVES� 387

COMPUTERS IN SCHOOL HURT PRIVACY

HOW THE SCHOOL COMPUTER FOR DATA MINING SWAP WORKS

Paula Dwyer; Business Week, May 1, 2000; Pg. 136 TITLE: THE PRIVACY DEBATE GOES TO SCHOOL // acs-EE2001

In the middle of this storm is ZapMe! Corp. in San Ramon, Calif. The publicly traded Internet service provider offers a turnkey setup that schools can't resist: an entire computer lab -- with PCs, software, teacher training, high-speed satellite connections, and a package of 13,000 pre-screened Web sites. ZapMe even maintains the equipment. It's no wonder schools are tripping over one another to sign up. So far, 1,500 schools are wired to ZapMe, and a further 2,500 will be by yearend. SHARED DATA. The catch is that school districts must agree to let ZapMe monitor students. While the company claims that the tracking is done anonymously, pupils' age and sex are known, as is the Zip Code of their school. ZapMe aggregates the data it collects and shares that info with advertisers, including Kodak, DeVry Institute, and Sylvan Learning Centers. Banner ads appear in a corner of the screen. As an ISP, ZapMe could collect users' real-life names and addresses as they registered at other Web sites, but the company insists that it does not do so.

FREE COMPUTERS GIVEN TO SCHOOLS IN EXCHANGE FOR DATA MINING NEEDS TO BE CONTROLLED

Paula Dwyer; Business Week, May 1, 2000; Pg. 136 TITLE: THE PRIVACY DEBATE GOES TO SCHOOL // acs-EE2001

When a school accepts free computers for its students and then lets the donor corporation monitor pupils' online activities, should it have to obtain parental permission? To a lot of people, that's a no-brainer, but it's at the heart of a hot debate now unfolding in Washington.

On one side is the privacy lobby and the National Parent Teacher Assn., which believe parents have a right to know about such data mining -- even if pupils are logging on anonymously -- and to opt out. On the other side is a powerful lobby of high-tech companies offering schools free PCs, software, and satellite feeds. They agree with the National School Boards Assn. that local school districts should decide whether to get parental approval.

SCHOOLS ARE NOT SENSITIVE TO PROTECTING THE PRIVACY OF STUDENTS

Paula Dwyer; Business Week, May 1, 2000; Pg. 136 TITLE: THE PRIVACY DEBATE GOES TO SCHOOL // acs-EE2001

At a time when the Internet has heightened consumer awareness of privacy invasions, you would think that schools would be especially vigilant about the rights of kids. Yet districts that allow monitoring often keep parents in the dark. Thousands of districts have already accepted corporate handouts, signing contracts that let donor companies track millions of students over the age of 13. (The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, as of Apr. 21, prohibits tracking children under 13 without parental consent.)

ADVERTISING TO KIDS IS A HUGE BUSINESS AND FIRMS WANT TO GIVE COMPUTERS TO SCHOOLS

Paula Dwyer; Business Week, May 1, 2000; Pg. 136 TITLE: THE PRIVACY DEBATE GOES TO SCHOOL // acs-EE2001

Driving these deals are studies showing that teenagers spend some $ 100 billion a year and influence spending of up to twice that amount by their parents. Monitoring which Web sites teens visit allows companies to target ads more accurately to students, many of whom now see a steady stream of commercial messages while on the Internet at school. In some cases, ads appear even when kids use word-processing programs to write papers. Besides all that, some companies that contribute hardware and software take advantage of a special new tax deduction, aimed at closing the digital divide, that lets them write off twice the cost of equipment.