The small Danish city of Helsingør is not a place usually in national news headlines. But the news crews arrived with the start of the new school term in August, to capture the chaos caused when local schools banned Google. Via WIREDUK
The small Danish city of Helsingør is not a place usually in national news headlines. Until now, most visitors come here to catch the ferry to nearby Sweden or to visit the castle where Shakespeare’s famous tragedywas set. But the news crews arrived with the start of the new school term in August, to capture the chaos caused when local schools banned Google.
This chaos had its roots back in August 2019, when one local 8-year-old approached his father with a problem. One of his classmates, he said, had used the 8-year-old’s YouTube account to write a “very rude” comment under another person’s video, and the son was panicking about the possible consequences. He was worried he would be punished for harassment or become the target of an online revenge campaign.
But Graugaard was not reassured. This stay-at-home dad—who had never before been involved in any kind of activism—embarked on a three-year campaign to fix what he considered to be a major flaw in the relationship between the Danish public school system and Google. It was his official complaint to Denmark’s data protection regulator, Datatilsynet, in December 2019 that inspired the Google ban in Helsingør.