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Personal Data Broker Instead of Blockchain for Students’ Data Privacy Assurance

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New Knowledge in Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST'19 2019)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 932))

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Abstract

Data logs about learning activities are being recorded at a growing pace due to the adoption and evolution of educational technologies (Edtech). Data analytics has entered the field of education under the name of learning analytics. Data analytics can provide insights that can be used to enhance learning activities for educational stakeholders, as well as helping online learning applications providers to enhance their services. However, despite the goodwill in the use of Edtech, some service providers use it as a means to collect private data about the students for their own interests and benefits. This is showcased in recent cases seen in media of bad use of students’ personal information. This growth in cases is due to the recent tightening in data privacy regulations, especially in the EU. The students or their parents should be the owners of the information about them and their learning activities online. Thus they should have the right tools to control how their information is accessed and for what purposes. Currently, there is no technological solution to prevent leaks or the misuse of data about the students or their activity. It seems appropriate to try to solve it from an automation technology perspective. In this paper, we consider the use of Blockchain technologies as a possible basis for a solution to this problem. Our analysis indicates that the Blockchain is not a suitable solution. Finally, we propose a cloud-based solution with a central personal point of management that we have called Personal Data Broker.

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Acknowledgment

To the support of the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca of the Department of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya for the help regarding 2017 SGR 934. This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Government Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness throughout the DEFINES project (Ref. TIN2016-80172-R) and the Ministry of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León (Spain) throughout the T-CUIDA project (Ref. SA061P17).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. La Salle, Universitat Ramón Llull, Barcelona, Spain

    Daniel Amo & David Fonseca

  2. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Marc Alier & María José Casañ

  3. Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Francisco José García-Peñalvo

Authors
  1. Daniel Amo
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  2. David Fonseca
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  3. Marc Alier
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  4. Francisco José García-Peñalvo
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  5. María José Casañ
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Fonseca .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Engenharia Informática, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Álvaro Rocha

  2. The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Hojjat Adeli

  3. Faculdade de Engenharia/LIACC, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Luís Paulo Reis

  4. DIMES, Università della Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Italy

    Sandra Costanzo

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Amo, D., Fonseca, D., Alier, M., García-Peñalvo, F.J., Casañ, M.J. (2019). Personal Data Broker Instead of Blockchain for Students’ Data Privacy Assurance. In: Rocha, Á., Adeli, H., Reis, L., Costanzo, S. (eds) New Knowledge in Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST'19 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 932. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16187-3_36

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