Defend Digital Me

Resist ‘dangerous and socially unacceptable’ age checks for social media, scientists warn Computer scientists are campaigning against the global march toward age checks online.

Governments should halt plans to roll out age checks on online services until privacy and security concerns are addressed, hundreds of academics said today.

The warning comes as countries around the world move to bar children from social media.

Every child achieving and thriving: data drivers and our response — Defend Digital Me The Schools White Paper released this week has been widely discussed in the media for its plans related to the provision or otherwise of children with additional needs, special educational needs and d...

@defenddigitalme.bsky.social response to the DfE Schools #WhitePaper published this week

defenddigitalme.org/2026/02/26/e...

YouTube video by LSE EdTech at the crossroads of pedagogy vs profit | LSE Event

Missed last Thursday’s LSE lecture? #EdTech at the Crossroads: #Pedagogy vs. Profit" is now available.

Our panel tackled the digital shift in #schools and how commercial models impact children’s privacy.

📺 Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=HNG7...

🎧 Listen: www.lse.ac.uk/lse-player/e...

To Ban Or Not To Ban?: That Should Not Be The Question — CRIN Should governments ban social media for children? From a children’s rights perspective, this is the wrong question. Instead, we should start by asking for the right ones.

On #SaferInternetDay, we ask: does banning children from social media actually keep them safe?

If “to ban or not to ban” is the wrong question where should we start instead?

💡 Find out here with the first of a collaborative series with CRIN home.crin.org/the-big-deba...

#ChildRights #OnlineSafety

EdTech at the crossroads of pedagogy vs profit | A discussion 6.30pm Thurs 20 Nov |Sandra El Gemayel Baroness Kidron Julian Sefton-Green Rhys Spence| Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE

“Children have the right to #education. How much is mediated by #EdTech at the crossroads of pedagogy and profit?”

📆 12 Feb | 6:30-8pm | LSE hybrid event
🔗 lse.ac.uk/events/edtech

#ChildRights #Schools #LSEEvents

Come along or follow the panel online and join in with Q&A, incl. @jenpersson.com

We applaud the intentions, but not associated with us, for clarification.

From Playground to Database: child data in education In England’s schools, children are not only pupils but also data subjects. From the moment they are born, a digital record begins to take shape — one that will follow them through nursery, primary…

In England, children are tracked from birth through education databases that record their lives in detail. These systems are vast, permanent, and invisible to most families.
privacyinternational.org/long-read/56...

From Playground to Database: child data in education In England’s schools, children are not only pupils but also data subjects. From the moment they are born, a digital record begins to take shape — one that will follow them through nursery, primary…

Education should nurture curiosity, not feed algorithms that children are unable to consent to. It’s time to question how deeply surveillance is being built into childhood itself.

Read our article with @defenddigitalme.bsky.social 👉 privacyinternational.org/long-read/56...

@jenpersson.com @defenddigitalme.bsky.social

Department for Education refuses to release 2020 audit of national pupil records, under FOI.

defenddigitalme.org/2025/09/29/d...

#FOI #GDPR #DataProtection #PupilData #UK #SchoolsBill #CWBSBill

Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : 'Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill' on Thursday 3 July 2025.

Read the Lord Frost comments in context, in the Hansard record of the full House of Lords debate on July 3, 2025 (part 1)

Children’s Wellbeing and #SchoolsBill Committee Stage #CWBSBill hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-0... 2/2

YouTube video by defend digital me Lord Frost July 3, 2025 Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Lord Frost, Children's Wellbeing and #SchoolsBill 3/7/2025, "we are seeing the erosion of the vital principle that freedom and autonomy are fundamentally important and that the state does not have the right to go anywhere it wants at will".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdZb...

#education 1/2

Our interview @privacyinternational.org podcast includes discussion of UK Department for #Education “Futures research looking at the implications of the use of #genomics in relation to education, focusing on 2 potential future scenarios.”

Timely in context of recent news www.bbc.com/news/article...

YouTube video by Privacy International Learning about learners: Protecting Children's Data

I already knew of the issues surrounding DfE collection of pupil data and the UK database state but this is a really eye-opening and interesting (by which I mean horrifying) account of that by Jen Peersen from @defenddigitalme.bsky.social. I highly recommend you give it a listen
youtu.be/3vb_JysheF0

NHS number to be national ID mandated in Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill — Defend Digital Me There are three key things going on in parallel about the Single Unique Identifier (“SUI”) ID mandated in Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and children’s NHS number: 1. The Government has confirm...

#NHS number to be national ID mandated in Children’s Wellbeing and #SchoolsBill

Key points of what we know, and seven areas of scrutiny and challenge, particularly as Clause 31 in the Bill is debated soon and its potential for scope creep, as happening in Wales

defenddigitalme.org/2025/06/14/n...

Learning about learners protecting children’s data — Privacy International podcast from June 2025 interview with Defend Digital Me — “the technology pill” images on orange background with white text.

“Learning about learners: Protecting Children's #Data” @PrivacyInternational.org with @JenPersson.com (June 2025).

Current issues in education in England: What’s in a National Pupil Record? #EdTech, #AI, what futures are possible and how and why it matters

privacyinternational.org/video/5598/l...

A photo of the executive summary of the ‘Data Tech and Black Communities’ report: “what if we took stewarding children’s data seriously?” The first part of a wide range of their work. On #edTech #pupildata and #HumanRights empowering children and families in state education in England. dtbc.org.uk

A photo from slides shown at the ‘Data Tech and Black Communities’ report launch: “what if we took stewarding children’s data seriously?” This slide is of the website dtbc.org.uk More coming soon.

A photo from slides shown at the ‘Data Tech and Black Communities’ report launch: “what if we took stewarding children’s data seriously?” This slide is talking about the advertising in EdTech

A photo from slides shown at the ‘Data Tech and Black Communities’ report launch: “what if we took stewarding children’s data seriously?” This slide is talking about the commercial exploitation and incentives in EdTech that are not in the best interests of the child

Excited to be participating at the ‘Data Tech and Black Communities’ report launch in Birmingham.

The first part of a wide range of their work. On #edTech #pupildata and #HumanRights empowering children and families in state education in England. dtbc.org.uk

More coming soon.

What happens when public data is shared with the wrong people?

🗃️ The Department for Education (DfE) maintains records about everybody who has received state-funded education in England since 1996 in the National Pupil Database. It routinely shares this information with third parties.

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Joint Letter on Encryption and the European Internal Security Strategy (ProtectEU) On 26 May 2025, CDT Europe, as part of the steering committee of the Global Encryption Coalition, alongside 88 civil society organisations, companies, and cybersecurity experts published a joint lette...

📢 CDT Europe and 88 others just sent a joint letter to the European Commission warning against plans that risk weakening end-to-end #encryption in the EU.

Strong encryption protects everyone’s security. We need to defend it, not undermine it. #E2EE #ProtectEU

Know any data vampires? White text in orange tile with three bat silhouettes in corners

On #WorldVampireDay — you can use a ‘Subject Access Request’ to ask the DfE for a copy of all the personal data sucked out from your school about you or your child since 2002.

Find out: Who’s been given it & why? What is kept forever? #DraculaDay #Education

defenddigitalme.org/my-school-re...

Five years after the ICO DfE audit, only a 6-side summary has ever been published about the 139 findings defenddigitalme.org/wp-content/upl… Remedial actions are long overdue—why can the termly census affecting 700,000 pupils be done if the required fixes aren’t?defenddigitalme.org/wp-content/u...df

Unlawful, unsafe and unaccountable. Education's big data problem A damning ICO report on the DfE’s data handling is a wake-up call for the department - and schools can also learn from it, writes Jen Persson

The summer term #school #census opens in England today. But do parents know where pupil records go each term? Will the new ICO Code of Practice for #education help?

“Unlawful, unsafe and unaccountable. Education, we have a #data problem.” (2020) in Schools Week schoolsweek.co.uk/unlawful-uns... 1/2

Tomorrow is the deadline!! 🌟

News and communications Find news and communications from government

In August last year the UK government announced a share of £1m to award to AI companies who bring forward the best ideas to reduce teacher workload by March 2025.

Anyone seen an announcement of the successful tools?

www.gov.uk/search/news-...

And that’s it. Choose your own adventure, the outcomes are up to you.

If you can, help us resist a dystopian future in education and fight for safe, fair, transparent data, systems and #EdTech that empower every learner to thrive.
 Enjoy the game. #HappyEaster2025

defenddigitalme.org/donate/

 8/8

My Records My Rights | Defend Digital Me — Defend Digital Me My Records My Rights (The National Pupil Database)

Or will you become the Digital Ghost? Your future erased.



"You decide you will write to your MP in parliament in secret, but for now, you are stuck until you choose to work with others to resist." 7/8



Instead, you can choose to write to them today defenddigitalme.org/my-school-re...

Resources — Defend Digital Me

Or will you resist, and start by finding out more?

Take action in the real world scenarios today, with Defend Digital Me resources and templates. 

defenddigitalme.org/resources/



Who knows what about you? 6/8

Will you be the good student?

"Years later, you apply for university. You realise your entire history is owned by private firms. Your thoughts, habits, relationships—all pre-analysed, predictable.

Your choices are decided by them. Your life was never yours.” 5/8

YouTube video by defend digital me Ban Biometrics in Schools Animation 2022

You start looking into the systems. You talk to the IT teacher—one of the few adults who still seems human. The first thing you do is revoke consent to your biometric data and watch a video to find out more about use of #biometrics in schools. 4/8

Check it out www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kdW...

You are being watched, constantly. At first, it feels normal. Convenient, even. And now, you start to wonder: Who owns this data? Who controls it? What do you do?



Investigate or continue complying? 

#HappyEaster2025 at Horizon Academy 3/8