A debate that sparked a school in Var (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur). For several months, a case has pitted the father of a student against National Education. In question: an Airtag placed in her bag during a school trip. Designed to help find objects, these tags are also used by parents to track their children.
In the case of the father of the child who attends the Ferrage school, the use of this system was related to the fact that his six-year-old son had already been abandoned to his fate on the way home. “Twice during the last school year, after misunderstandings on the way home by bus, my son found himself alone, in a vulnerable situation, on the side of the road… All parents fear these kinds of moments!” he explained to Var-matin.
Agreement in court
But the use of this Airtag did not please the school, especially since he was not the only parent who put one in his son’s bag. The school principal discovered the use of these devices during a green class, when they rang unexpectedly to signal their presence. This is one of the functions added by Apple to prevent these tags from being used to track someone without their knowledge. What is even more serious in the eyes of the school management, these devices de facto made it possible, within the framework of this school trip, to follow the movements of other people besides the child in question to the nearest parking meter.
Believing they posed a security and privacy issue, teachers confiscated these labels and had the school board vote, which decided to ban them last June. A decision justified by the management thanks to the 2018 law, which prohibits the use of telephone “or any other electronic communications terminal equipment” by students in nursery and primary schools, as well as universities.
But this ban did not please the father, who appealed to the administrative court of Toulon and won the case. That’s why he asked the school board to change course. “The judge made this decision simply because the National Education Code prohibits electronic devices such as mobile phones or electronic terminals that allow communication, but does not at all prohibit passive electronic organs that are not intended to record or allow communication,” Olivier Ferri, lawyer and president of the Toulon bar association, explained to BFMTV.
The judge also concluded that he could not restrict a fundamental freedom: the right to know where his child is if there is no text that restricts this freedom.
Potentially dangerous use
The problem is that the school did not take this summary decision into account. At the beginning of the school year, he gave families a note confirming the ban on these devices. After trying to resolve the problem amicably, without success, the father went to court again a few days ago to obtain “a ruling on the merits. To definitively validate the result of the summary trial, but also for abuse of power.”
Other parents, interviewed by BFMTV, support him in his approach. One of them, Benoît, is also in favor of using the tracker as long as it is correctly configured, to avoid an incident similar to that of the green class. Vanessa is also in favor, but regrets that this matter has been resolved in court.
Others, however, oppose the use of trackers to track children. This is the case of Clémentine, who asks National Education to establish standards.
Finally, the Nice Academy, which, unlike the school, took note of the summary decision, reminded BFMTV that “the use of this type of device is not recommended during school hours.” “In fact, the geolocation of a student is equivalent to following the movements of an entire class,” which can generate risks, he stressed.
Risks for the safety of students and staff, but also for privacy, because “these devices can collect or transmit personal data of the entire class, without other parents having given their consent.”
Source: BFM TV
