{"id":2251072,"date":"2024-05-23T09:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cassidy-launches-investigation-into-chinese-owned-tutoring-service-with-dod-contract\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T09:57:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T13:57:34","slug":"cassidy-launches-investigation-into-chinese-owned-tutoring-service-with-dod-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cassidy-launches-investigation-into-chinese-owned-tutoring-service-with-dod-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassidy to probe Chinese-owned tutoring service with DOD contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcassidy-launches-investigation-into-chinese-owned-tutoring-service-with-dod-contract%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2251072&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana has initiated an investigation \u200cinto a Chinese-owned tutoring service, Tutor.com, with\u200b contracts across US schools and the Pentagon. The\u2064 concern \u2062is on the Chinese ownership&#8217;s impact on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hackers-post-personal-info-of-thousands-of-k-12-students-to-dark-web\/\" title=\"Hackers Post Personal Info of Thousands of K-12 Students to \u2018Dark Web\u2019\">student data<\/a> \u200cprivacy and national security. Cassidy also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/median-net-worth-soared-37-from-2019-to-2022-fed-study-finds\/\" title=\"Fed study: Median net worth surges 37% from 2019 to 2022.\">highlights potential risks<\/a> to military families \u200ddue to data collection concerns. The probe focuses on safeguarding students&#8217; online safety amidst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-president-trump-spring-a-trap-on-treasonous-democrats-on-election-night\/\" title=\"Did President Trump Spring a Trap on Treasonous Democrats on Election Night?\">foreign interference<\/a> in the education sector.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE \u2014<\/strong> Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bill-cassidy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Bill Cassidy<\/a> (R-LA) has launched an investigation into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/china\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Chinese<\/a>-owned tutoring service that has contracts with schools across the United States and the Pentagon.<\/p>\n<p>Tutor.com, which is owned by the Chinese investment firm Primavera Capital Group, provides services to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/department-of-defense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Department of Defense<\/a> and has contracts with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/five-cities-where-teachers-unions-are-keeping-schools-shutdown\/\" title=\"Five Cities Where Teachers Unions Are Keeping Schools Shutdown\">local school districts<\/a> and libraries in at least 25 U.S. states. PCG also has ownership stakes in TikTok and its developer, ByteDance.<\/p>\n<p>The service\u2019s Chinese ownership raises further questions about foreign interference in the U.S. education system and the threat posed to \u201cstudents\u2019 online safety and privacy,\u201d Cassidy argued in a letter obtained exclusively by the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In the letter, addressed to the Princeton Review and Tutor.com CEO Joshua Hyoung-Jun Park, Cassidy also raised concerns about Tutor.com\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tutor.com\/privacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>privacy policy<\/a>, which states it collects user data including names, addresses, IP addresses, and tutor session recordings. The Princeton Review is a subsidiary of Primavera that owns Tutor.com.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese contractual arrangements, some of which are funded by federal taxpayer dollars, raise highly significant student data privacy concerns because Chinese law requires companies based in China to \u2018support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work,\u2019 meaning that a company can be compelled to share information with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) if asked to do so,\u201d\u00a0Cassidy, ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, wrote. \u201cSince these matters concern students\u2019 online safety and privacy, the stakes could not be higher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The risk posed to Americans and their data is highlighted by accusations that ByteDance employees have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/22\/technology\/byte-dance-tik-tok-internal-investigation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>improperly accessed<\/a> user data, the letter continues. Cassidy claimed that because TikTok \u201cmaliciously\u201d uses its algorithm to influence children, all companies connected to ByteDance should be scrutinized.<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy pointed to two major school districts with large military populations in the area that have contracts with Tutor.com, arguing the children of service members could be targeted for data collection from the website, especially since \u201cinformation on the students and their families could be of strategic<br \/>value to the [Chinese Communist Party] and therefore pose risks not only to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennessee-files-lawsuit-against-biden-admin-over-guidance-that-threatens-womens-sports-student-privacy\/\" title=\"Tennessee Files Lawsuit Against Biden Admin Over Guidance That \u2018Threatens Women\u2019s Sports,\u2019 Student Privacy\">student privacy<\/a> but also our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the letter, Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, California, is close to America\u2019s second-largest Air Force base, with over 10,000 military and related personnel. Similarly, the San Antonio Independent School District, near Joint Base San Antonio, is the home of 70,000 service members.<\/p>\n<p>Tutor.com operates online recorded sessions between tutors and students that the company retains, it says, to ensure the quality of the product. The privacy policy says it collects information including parent addresses, educational and employment backgrounds, transcripts, college application information, and third-party browser information.<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy is seeking more clarity about Tutor.com\u2019s data and privacy practices, setting a deadline of June 5 to comply with the request.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the website stating it abides by applicable U.S. laws and \u201cvoluntarily initiated a rigorous federal review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to ensure that stringent safeguards would be put in place to protect customer and student data,\u201d Cassidy noted the scope and findings of the review are not publicly available. The Louisiana Republican also said the responsibilities of Tutor.com\u2019s data security officer are also not publicly available.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cVeiled assurances are not enough. TikTok similarly assured Congress and the American people that its parent company, ByteDance, is a \u2018private company\u2019 and \u2018commit[ed] to be free of all and any government manipulation,&#8217;\u201d Cassidy wrote. \u201cYet, in a recent court filing, TikTok and ByteDance stated that \u2018the Chinese government \u2026 made it clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTutor.com, an American company, employs extensive\u00a0safeguards and enforcement mechanisms\u00a0to ensure that U.S. students\u2019 data cannot and will not, under any circumstances, ever be shared with China or any foreign entity,\u201d\u00a0Tutor.com\u00a0told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, noting many of the data privacy and transparency protocols Cassidy said it claimed. \u201cWe want to be clear: No personal information of U.S. students is shared with Primavera, and Primavera does not have\u2014and may not obtain\u2014access to\u00a0Tutor.com\u2019s IT systems.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) initiates probe into Chinese-owned Tutor.com, holding contracts with US schools and the Pentagon. Tutor.com, managed by Primavera Capital Group, offers services to the Department of Defense, as well as local school districts and libraries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2251073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24032686662573-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2251072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/AP24032686662573-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2251072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2251073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2251072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2251072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}