Note: The original version of this piece was published on July 7, 2016 by New America as part of an EdCentral series on the next social contract for education:  https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/next-social-contract-public-education-needs-new-terms-service/.  Join the conversation about new directions for public education in the digital age with the hashtag #EdTechContract on Twitter. Based on universal access to free and equal schools, the social contract for public education equates the attainment of a high school diploma with readiness for college, meaningful p ..read more

Today, internet users and online communities are coming together to sound the alarm about the FCC’s attack on net neutrality. I support the open internet. Will you join me? https://www.battleforthenet.com/     Battle For The Net Video Bumper from FFTF on Vimeo.   ..read more

I am switching to Linux. We have a variety of Apple-, Microsoft-, and Google-powered computers in my house. My daily workhorse machine is a (relatively) mighty, but aging MacBook Air. I could recount the ways that each of them fall short for me or bend your proverbial ear to tell you about the type of computing device I really want. In short, I am sick of feeling like I am not in control of my own computer. My operating systems routinely ping online services without my consent or knowledge, ads are being delivered to my desktop that I can’t opt out of, device manufacturers have apparently deci ..read more

Cross-posted at the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center: https://k12cybersecure.com. According to a report released today by the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center, The State of K-12 Cybersecurity: 2019 Year in Review, public K-12 education agencies across the country experienced a total of 348 cybersecurity incidents during calendar year 2019. This is nearly 3 times as many incidents as were publicly-disclosed during 2018. Many of these incidents were significant, resulting in the theft of millions of taxpayer dollars, stolen identities, and the denial of access to school technology and IT s ..read more

For those who care about the evolving terrain of student data privacy and civil liberties issues in schools, you may know that the actions of Lockport (NY) Public Schools – and their defiance of the advice of the New York State Department of Education – have become a defining case. Indeed, it is a story that I had previously covered on this very site (“Facial Recognition Technology Has No Place in Schools“). For those with less familiarity with the issues at play, a parent of the Lockport school district laid them out succinctly in a recent must-read opinion piece in the New York Times (“Spyin ..read more