Education surveillance is here

[View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, this is Priya in San Francisco. The pandemic-era switch to online learning has enabled more digital surveillance of school kids. But first… Today’s top tech news: - Zillow is pulling the plug on [home-flipping]( - Microsoft’s metaverse is coming ([PowerPoint included]() - Facebook is shutting down its use of [facial recognition]( tech Big teacher After the advent of social media almost two decades ago, kids’ personal lives moved online. During the pandemic, kids’ academic lives moved online too. Now, just as social media ebbed away at minors’ privacy, online learning is opening them up to unprecedented levels of surveillance. More than 80% of teachers say their schools use software to monitor students’ online behavior, a recent survey found. Of those, [only one in four]( said that tracking is limited to school hours. Software monitoring kids has proliferated with the rise of Zoom school over the last pandemic-striken year and a half. It allows teachers to ensure that students are on-task and not exhibiting signs that might indicate they’re thinking about self harm. But the trend has also raised privacy alarm bells for some parents and observers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren. For a feature in this [week’s issue of Bloomberg Businessweek](, my colleague Mark Bergen and I profiled GoGuardian, one of the most popular makers of software that records and analyzes what schoolkids are doing online. You might not have heard of GoGuardian, but if you have children in school, there’s a good chance they already know all about it. Entire state departments of education (Delaware, West Virginia) are GoGuardian customers, as is New York City, the biggest school district in the country. The company has a number of competitors, but is likely the largest of the bunch, with the potential reach of more than 23 million students. Now that schools are reopening for in-person class, it appears unlikely that digital monitoring will recede. At times, GoGuardian’s monitoring also extends to personal devices, such as a family laptops, when that device is logged into school accounts. GoGuardian says it’s up to schools to decide whether to turn that extending monitoring on, and declined to say how many do so. The societal implications are murky. In the days of floppy disks and “computer class,” everyone went home and chatted with friends on AOL Instant Messenger. If that were now, tech startups and school administrators could keep watch on every moody away message posted by teenagers. What’s the long-term impact of this kind of monitoring on kids? It’s hard to know, given how new these technologies are. One thing is clear, though: teachers and administrators love it, many parents don’t appear to mind. The classroom surveillance state appears to be here to stay. —[Priya Anand](mailto:panand20@bloomberg.net) If you read one thing Netflix is beginning its [foray into video games]( with the introduction of five mobile games, playable initially only on Android devices. Here’s what you need to know Lyft’s stock surged more than 12% after its revenue for the quarter beat expectations and it said it would turn an adjusted profit for 2021, as riders and drivers [return to the app](. Game delays are hurting Activision. The company’s shares fell as much as 11% in after-hours trading Tuesday after its [earnings report](. Elon Musk cryptically tweeted out an ancient [Chinese poem](, in a possible reference to the Doge vs Shiba Inu cryptocurrency rivalry. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Dig gadgets or video games? [Sign up for Power On]( to get Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more in your inbox on Sundays. [Sign up for Game On]( to go deep inside the video game business, delivered on Fridays. Why not try both?  Like Fully Charged? | [Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com](, where you'll find trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](