Democracy is respect for the citizen's right to choose, a pillar of a Nation and a republican principle that was literally 'run over' by the Secretariat of Education of São Paulo, by leading another controversial measure that affected, at once, the entire educational universe of the richest state in the country.
After determining the exclusive use of the digital book for didactic purposes in the public school system, the state department, without prior notice or consultation, installed the 'My School SP' application on the private cell phones of students and teachers, who woke up this Wednesday (9) with the 'news'.
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According to experts consulted by the newspaper Estadão, although installing the app is 'technically possible’, this constitutes a violation of rights and of the General Law for the Protection of Personal Data (LGPD).
According to these technicians, the 'invasion' of cell phones would only be viable if there was already, in advance, an agreement between the secretariat and Google for the use of educational platforms, which would facilitate such installation on electronic devices, via the Play Store – application store on cell phones in the system Android.
“This is a mistake”, reacted the Secretary of Education of SP, Renato Feder, when questioned by the initiative, to say the least, unhappy, under the argument that the 'mass installation' occurred 'accidentally', as a result of a test on 20,000 cell phones that the State would have received from the Revenue Federal. By 'mistake', the aforementioned app would have 'appeared' on all cell phones, which were already logged into the secretariat's system. In addition to the controversial application, the folder uses another, which would work as a digital class diary. Conveniently, contacted by the Estadão report, Google's advisors remained silent about the episode.
As was to be expected, the outrageous intervention by the bandeirante state had a highly negative repercussion on social networks, in which teachers and students expressed different degrees of indignation in relation to what happened, which invaded, contrary to what the secretary claimed, cell phones and SIM cards not provided by the secretary, but private. Already available for some time, the 'Escola SP' application has spaces for filling in data information for each student, grades for all subjects, attendance, as well as a calendar for activities.
“It is not about questioning the features of the ‘Minha Escola SP’ app or [evaluating] whether it is good or bad for students and their guardians, but to show how vulnerable our data is”, shot Professor André Sapanos, who teaches at a school in Mauá, in Greater São Paulo. Paul.
The specialist from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP) Renato Franzin, goes further, when considering the fact 'serious' for violating the user agreement with the Play Store, which conditions the installation of applications only to your consent express. But for the installation to be completed, continues Franzin, the State must previously provide Google with a database, plus the Imei (identifier) of each cell phone, in addition to the telephone line number or e-mails linked to the Secretariat of Education.
Along the same lines, for the director of Data Privacy Brasil (an institution dedicated to data protection), Rafael Zanatta, the measure violates basic privacy and consumer rights. “It removes people's dignity, because they feel less autonomous. The device belongs to them and they are the ones who decide whether to install something or not”, he points out, adding that the measure of secretary goes against what the LGPD says because, once installed, the app starts to collect user data, such as geolocation. “This is quite debatable, as there may be commercial use of this data, in addition to allowing the behavior of these students and teachers to be monitored”, he criticizes.
Repeated irregularity, Feder, when he held the same portfolio in Paraná, had already done the same with teachers and students, in November 2022, also without prior authorization from anyone. With this reprehensible attitude, the secretary collects scandals of his management, which is already the target of investigation of the Public Ministry (MP) of São Paulo, due to the decision to impose the exclusive use of digital material in the educational process local.
