Sign up for our privacy/ed tech briefing and your rights to opt out

November 9, 2026

Please remember to sign up for our special briefing this Tuesday night November 10 at 8 PM about what rights you have under state and federal law to protect your children’s data, what questions you should ask your schools about ed tech use, and what strategies you can employ to opt your child out of these invasive products.

We will also explore the latest, confusing controversy over Google Search. After NYC DOE told Google they wanted certain AI tools like Gemini, Google AI mode, and AI Overview switched off in student devices, Google said they would also switch off Google Search, since it also uses AI. Google has embedded AI into Search for about two years, as I pointed out to DOE months ago.

Because of the resulting backlash from the Mayor and others about denying Search, Google said they will continue to provide the tool to students if the city chooses, but not AI free. Like YouTube, Google Search is not included as a Core Service in the suite of products under its Workspace for Education, and has long collected user data and used it for commercial purposes, including serving ads to students based upon their queries.

As Josh Golin of FairPlay said, “Schools should use this opportunity not only to turn off AI, but to teach students that ‘Google’ isn’t a verb, but the name of a surveillance and advertising company whose presence in schools has nothing to do with learning.” Instead our schools should be encouraging and assigning students to use a privacy protective browser and search engine such as Duck Duck Go. More on this on my Substack here.

We will discuss this too Tuesday night – please sign up here.