ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 outbreak activated an explosive use of digital technologies to enable remote learning, making Zoom (the global video conference provider) one of the most popular educational technologies. Globally, Zoom has faced several concerns to do with privacy, encryption and unauthorised calls. This study explores how different South American countries govern the use of commercial platforms in education systems and to what extent they alert their citizens from the potential risks. The analysis focused on public education institutions from eight countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay) and how they reacted (or not) to protect student and teacher privacy at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. The questions of this ethnographic study were: How public institutions of South America reacted when the privacy risks of Zoom were made known? Where did they put their emphasis? What lessons can be learned? This chapter is of special interest for education policy makers interested in understanding the opportunities of digital technologies but also the unintended consequences. This study underscores the necessity to revise and adjust the current regulations and the importance of transforming the existing institutional capacities to effectively execute digital governance.
