Google adds another legal action they are facing these days. This time, the complaint came from the Electronic Frontier Foundation or EFF. The case filed by EFF against the tech company is for allegedly collecting and data mining the school children's personal information which also includes their internet searches. This came to light while EFF was researching their "Spying on Students" campaign. The complaint is filed with the Federal Trade Commission or FTC this Dec. 1.

The Spying on Students campaign was created to raise awareness on the privacy risks of school supplied software and electronic devices. It is aimed to educate parents and school officials on the risks of data collection by companies that supply the technology tools used by the students. The site also provides facts on how data is collected, tips for improving privacy, a case study, plus links to resources for parents and school administrator.

According to the EFF, they have examined the tech giant's Chromebook and Google Apps For Education or GAFE. GAFE is the search engine collection for educational cloud-based software programs. It is being used by many students from different schools as young as seven years old. Although the tech giant doesn't use student data for their targeted advertising, the EFF found out that the Chromebooks sold to schools have the sync feature enabled by default.

Because of this, Google is able to track, store on their servers, and data-mine for non-advertising purposes the records of the sites visited by the students, the search term they used and even the results they clicked and videos they have watched plus their passwords as well. The tech giant also does this without obtaining the permission of the students and their parents.

Because of these practices, Google seems to have not been abiding by the commitment they made when they have signed the Student Privacy Pledge. The pledge is a legally enforceable document that when signed means the company promises to refrain from collecting, sharing, or using student's personal information except when parents' permission has been obtained or if the information is needed for legitimate educational purposes.

According to EFF Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo, despite their public promise, Google's acts are saying otherwise. Making such promises and failing to do so is a violation of the FTC rules against unfair and deceptive business practices. If the tech giant wants to use students' data to improve their products then they need to get their parents' consent first.

Google, on the other hand, told the EFF that they will soon be disabling the setting on school Chromebooks that allows the Chrome Sync data. This move might be a step toward the right direction, but it isn't enough to correct the violations of their Pledge that is currently inherent in their Chromebooks that are distributed to schools.

The complaint against the tech giant also revealed that the administrative settings that schools were provided allows student personal information to be shared to third party sites which is also in violation of the Student Privacy Pledge.

EFF Staff Attorney Sophia Cope adds that they commend schools for bringing technology into classrooms and see the potential and benefits of Chromebooks and GAFE for teaching and preparing students for the future. But these devices and services used by the schools must protect the students' privacy without any compromises and loopholes.

Because of this, they are asking for FTC to investigate Google's conduct and to stop the said company from using the students' personal information for their own purposes. They are also asking FTC to order the tech giant to destroy all the collected information they have that is not for educational purposes.