Ministry: use of Google in education poses privacy risks

The use of Google Workspace for Education poses privacy risks, according to research by the part of the Department of Justice that concludes agreements with cloud companies. Eight privacy issues remain after talks with Google.

Strategic Delivery Management Microsoft Rijk therefore advises against using Google services for the government for the time being. The government is considering a switch from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace and wanted to map out the risks. Research has been conducted into privacy risks of the use of Google services for education, because both Google services are very similar.

The ministry service says in a letter to parliament that metadata is one of the problems. “Google takes the position that it sees itself as the sole controller for metadata. This means that it can determine for what purpose they collect metadata and how this is done. Google has also included in the privacy agreements that it can unilaterally adjust the conditions surrounding metadata. , without asking the user for permission, which means that educational institutions that use Google G Suite for Education have no or insufficient control over what happens with this data.”

Many educational institutions already work with Google. It is unknown what they will do with the advice. For the privacy investigation, the government service held talks with Google for six months to solve the privacy problems. Microsoft services do not pose any major privacy risks, according to the service.