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New Mexico accuses Google of violating kids' privacy with data collection

A student uses Google Translate at the Rohingya English Academy in Malaysia. Photo: Faris Hadziq/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

New Mexico attorney general Hector Balderas accused Google in a lawsuit of illegally amassing schoolchildren's personal data through G Suite Education products that the tech giant lets kids in the state use for free.

The big picture: There are at least 80 million students and teachers using these products across the world, Google revealed in a blog post last January.

Details: Balderas alleges that Google is collecting kids' geolocation information, contact lists, visited websites, voice recordings and terms searched on Google and YouTube without parental consent.

  • Google provides Chromebook laptops and G Suite products — including Gmail, Drive, and Docs — to New Mexico schools for free, Balderas said in a Thursday press release.

What they're saying:

“These claims are factually wrong. G Suite for Education allows schools to control account access and requires that schools obtain parental consent when necessary. 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.”
— Jose Castaneda, Google spokesperson, in a statement to Axios
“Students and parents are a vulnerable audience who have little say in what products kids must use, and companies are taking advantage of them. We have long had a law in place, COPPA, to protect kids’ data, and it is important that state leaders like AG Balderas step up to protect children."
— James P. Steyer, founder of nonprofit Common Sense

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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (C) fronts a Fridays For Future protest at the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm in September. Photo: Jonathan Nacksrtrand/AFP via Getty Images

64% of people from around the world say climate change is a global emergency, a United Nations poll published Wednesday finds.

Why it matters: It's biggest global survey on climate change ever conducted, with some 1.2 million participants from 50 countries — including the U.S. where 65% of those surveyed view climate change as an emergency.

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Why it matters: The executive, Martin Kao of Honolulu, leaned heavily on his political connections to boost his business, federal prosecutors say in an ongoing criminal case against him. The donation linked to Kao was veiled until last week.

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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

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Why it matters: Scores of corporate PACs have paused, scaled back or entirely abandoned their political giving programs. While designed to distance those companies from events that coincided with this month's deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol, research suggests the moves could actually empower the far-right.

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