Google's 'Teacher approved' apps mislead on kids' privacy, activists tell FTC

The company last year said it derives labels by asking teachers across the country to rate apps on factors like "age appropriateness, quality of experience, enrichment, and delight"

(Subscribe to our Today's Cache newsletter for a quick snapshot of top 5 tech stories. Click to subscribe for free.) Two advocacy groups on Wednesday called on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether apps that Google's Play Store labels as "Teacher approved" are unlawfully collecting personal data without parental consent to target ads at children. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), which have helped spur FTC action before, cited among other evidence reports from three separate research groups since last June that concluded Play Store apps aimed at children quietly transmitted data about individual users to other companies.