Privacy Nightmare - Users beware...
My Uni recently emailed students stating they were migrating to a new site for "course resources". Upon further review, it appears they are referring to People Grove, which bills itself as a "Career Coach". Which begs the immediate question - What is a Uni doing putting Course Resources on a "Career Coach' site?! Well that's where things get fuzzy as ultimately People Grove is simply a social media site for Uni and a data collection source for People Grove all said and done, no matter how they pitch it. I have absolutely no interest in using this privacy nightmare of a site. While I'm sure People Grove will or would be quick to defend themselves as something else - All it takes is a quick perusal of their Privacy Policy to realize how much information they are gathering, utlilizing, sharing and retaining from poor students simply trying to get an education under the guise as a supposed 'Carreer Coach' platform, where as millions of students graduated from uni prior to People Grove's existence. I will also provide an excerpt directly from People Grove's Privacy Policy as 1 of multiple examples of concerning policies: "Because there are numerous types of Personal Information in each category, and various uses for each Personal Information type, actual retention periods vary. Because there are so many different types of personal data in certain categories, and so many purposes and use cases for different data, we are unable to provide retention ranges based on categories of personal data in a way that would be meaningful and transparent to you. Actual retention periods for all personal data will depend upon how long we have a legitimate purpose for the retention, consistent with the collection purposes and applicable law. For instance, we may maintain business records for as long as relevant to our business and may have a legal obligation to hold personal data for as long as potentially relevant to prospective or actual litigation or government investigation." Translation? It's easier for People Grove to present a vague non-existent rentention period that most won't read vs. providing an actual retention period for the sake of student's personal data, privacy and security. 'Nuff said. Doubt this review? Feel free to read People's Grove's Privacy Policy yourself, the related data collection from students, then decide for yourself who really benefits from this supposed Career Coach platform (Spoiler alert: It's not the students).
By The T.