IP: WEB-FILTER DATA FROM SCHOOLS PUT UP FOR SALE: Edupage, January 24, 2001

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> WEB-FILTER DATA FROM SCHOOLS PUT UP FOR SALE
> N2H2, a Seattle-based software company that provides schools with
> Internet filtering software, has roused public ire for using
> gathered data as a marketing tool. The marketing tool, Class
> Clicks, is an aggregate summary of the activities in which
> children participate while logged on to school Internet
> connections. Public privacy groups say this is a completely
> inappropriate use of the data, which were first gathered in 1999
> for school officials to analyze their educational Web programs.
> In the summer of 2000, N2H2 contacted Roper Starch Worldwide, a
> New York marketing firm, to develop the Class Clicks product for
> commercial sale. Washington-based privacy attorney Robert Belair
> contends that while the company has not violated the 1998
> Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, the marketing effort
> may be endangering its public relations. Although N2H2 has
> discounted the cost of the Class Clicks monthly summaries to
> $10,000, it still only has two customers.
> (Wall Street Journal, 26 January, 2001)



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