We want parents and schools to be able to monitor children while they are online, but do we want anyone and everyone else to be tracking them as well? We might not be able to be so discerning.

“This is the basic dilemma of cloud computing. Your data is no longer yours. And the only thing that protects your data is the contract with whoever you’re doing business with,” said Joel Rosenblatt, director of computer and network security for Columbia University, who has written extensively on data security issues.... “Anything can be hacked,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s not a question of if, but when.”

Systems built to monitor student online activity are tasked with protecting present harms, but we should task them with preventing future harms as well. There is probably no good reason to keep even 6 months worth of internet tracking data, nearly all of the value has to be in realtime inspection particularly if self-harm or other imminent threats are the paramount concerns.