January 19th, 2000
ZapMe Is Targeted Over Student Data Collected on Web
By Daniel Golden
Wall Street Journal
A diverse coalition of advocacy groups and Internet watchers is trying to derail
ZapMe! Corp., a firm that brings online advertising into schools.
The group-encompassing Web-privacy experts, Phyllis Schlafly’s conservative
Eagle Forum, Ralph Nader’s left-leaning Commercial Alert and 24 other organizations
and media watchdogs—charges that ZapMe, a San Ramon, Calif., company that
has contracts with 6,000 schools, is helping advertisers collect the names and
addresses of minors for marketing purposes without parental consent.
In letters being sent today to governors and state legislators, the group calls
for new state laws mandating parental approval. Federal law prohibits online
gathering of identifying information about children under 13 years of age without
parental consent, but many students exposed to ZapMe are older than that.
The letters also call on a dozen of ZapMe’s advertisers and corporate partners
—including software concern Microsoft Corp., of Redmond, Wash., and computer
retailer Dell Computer Co., of Round Rock, Texas-to withdraw advertising on
the ZapMe Web site and sever ties with the company.
ZapMe Chief Executive Rick Inatome said the company doesn’t furnish data on
individual students to advertisers, only broad demographic information. ZapMe
sponsors can solicit names and other personal data from students while at school,
but that isn’t any different from other Web advertisers, he said.
ZapMe offers the schools Web access and $90,000 each of high-tech equipment
free—including computers, maintenance and support—in return for schools’
agreement that the computers will be used at least four hours a day-flashing
ads on the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.
Schools collect the ages, genders and zip codes of student users. The schools
also agree to distribute take-home material to students at least three times
a year, such as sponsors’ advertising, or contests and promotions.
Last year, California adopted a statute aimed at ZapMe, which prohibited school
districts from allowing electronic advertising in classrooms without a public
hearing and parental notification.
Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp., a Green Brook, N.J., consulting
firm on privacy issues, said ZapMe advertisers likely are compiling "enormously
detailed pseudonymous" profiles on student users. If ZapMe’s confidentiality
policy changes, or the information leaks, Mr. Catlett said, students’ privacy
could be invaded.
ZapMe went public in October and has a history of losses. But it is growing
rapidly. It has installed equipment in 1,300 schools with a total of more than
a million students. Under a new policy, Mr. Inatome said, schools are free to
cancel the ad window—as long as they are willing to pay between $1,100 and
$4,000 a month for Internet access.