By making an implicit demarcation between the two concepts (your) ‘data’ and (collected) ‘information’ Google can disguise the presence of a business model for online marketing and, at the same time, simulate the practices and ethics of a free public service institution. This makes it problematic for Swedish schools to implement Google Apps for Education, bearing in mind Google’s surveillance practices for making profits on pupil’s algorithmic identities. From a front end viewpoint of Google Apps for Education, the advantages of the services are evident to the users, and emerge in the study, whereas back end strategies are relatively hidden.

Maria Lindh & Jan Nolin

Lindh, M., & Nolin, J. (2016). Information We Collect: Surveillance and Privacy in the Implementation of Google Apps for Education. European Educational Research Journal, 15(6), 644–663. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904116654917