Microsoft Sued for Harvesting Student Data Without Consent
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft in Washington state court, alleging that the company harvests personal and behavioral data from over a million K-12 students without their parents' consent.
The plaintiffs claim that Microsoft's Windows operating system, Edge browser, Microsoft 365 Education suite, and Minecraft Education platform enable the collection of student data, including education records, browsing history, and physical interactions such as typing speed and cursor movement.
The lawsuit alleges that students are 'captive participants' in Microsoft's data harvesting due to their compulsory use of the company's products for schoolwork. The plaintiffs argue that this constitutes a violation of Washington's Consumer Protection Act and My Health My Data Act, which requires affirmative consent before collecting consumer health data.
The lawsuit also references two Austrian data protection rulings and a 2023 Federal Trade Commission settlement in which Microsoft paid $20 million to resolve allegations of unlawfully collecting children's data.