Enforcement action improves privacy for children in education: more is needed: a brief analysis of recent changes to policies and practice in Google’s Workspace for Education

Regulatory and enforcement actions, stemming from work carried out in the Netherlands, have led to improvements in Google’s data practices and policies. Although these are steps in the right direction, they are not sufficient to address the challenges schools face as data controllers – schools still struggle with Google’s complex and opaque data practices and policies while bearing the burden for data compliance. The distinction between Google’s Workspace for Education policies and Google’s general Privacy Policy remains unclear, particularly regarding how children’s data is handled when they interact with these technologies, adding further confusion for users. Schools, acting as data controllers, face challenges in navigating Google’s privacy policies, and struggle to have meaningful control over how Google processes data, leaving them with a significant burden under the law...