Dutch schools restrict Google products, here’s why

Education Minister Dijkgraaf announces in a letter to the House of Representatives that schools will limit the use of Google products such as Chrome and the search engine. Schools that want to switch out of Google services completely can use instructions to protect the privacy of students as much as possible.

Google services in schools

The Netherlands advises schools against using well-known Google services such as Chrome and the search engine. Minister Dijkgraaf announces this in a letter to the House of Representatives. Our country wants to avoid the online activities of students being part of Google’s advertising network. Our privacy watchdog, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP), also states that it is known where data is correctly processed and stored.

For these reasons, the government is concerned that Google is not respecting the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The AP has that concern also voiced to the tech companies Google, Microsoft and Zoom. Google then confirmed that new versions of Chrome and Chrome OS will be released in 2023 that should address the concerns.

Alternatives to Chrome

Many schools use Google Workspace for Education, but in a technical manual We recommend that you do not use the Chrome browser for the time being. Safari or Mozilla Firefox are alternatives that are put forward in it. Alternative search engines that schools should use are DuckDuckGo and the Dutch Startpage. The manual also contains other instructions that should increase the privacy of students in Worskpace.

“A new version of Chrome browser will be available in which Google acts as data processor instead of data controller. Until that version is available, we recommend using a different browser. This advice applies to PCs that do not use Chrome OS (Windows, Mac , Linux). Alternative browsers are for example Mozilla Firefox or Safari.”

Last week also decided a Deense municipality to ban the use of Chromebooks and Google Workspace in education. Are you considering using an alternative to Chrome on your phone? Check out our selection of the best browsers. We also wrote about five privacy-friendly search engines.