In Microsoft for Education, the different services available are distributed within various categories: applications, security, management and administration, learning simulators, and accessibility.
In the categories of applications, security, management, and administration, we recognize several services that are used across sectors, not just in the education sector. Meanwhile, the services in the learning simulator category are almost exclusively used in schools.
In the accessibility category, we find services that make it easier for usersâregardless of abilityâto use the services in M365.
What about Copilot?
This is a question we get all the time, as people really want a separate assessment of Copilot. Understandably so. Copilot has become more and more integrated into M365, and there are parts of
Copilot that you as a school owner automatically "get with the purchase" when using M365.
Our starting point was that we did not want this DPIA to be a DPIA of Copilot. The survey we referred to earlier in this article showed us that relatively few school owners have done a DPIA of M365. This tells us that there is a need for a DPIA of M365.
Furthermore, it is clear from the work NTNU did in their assessments of Copilot and the subsequent report by the Data Inspectorate, that it is a prerequisite to have control over and have made the necessary assessments of M365 before you as a data controller can even consider turning on Copilot. We want this DPIA to be part of the preparatory work data controllers must do anyway.
But what about the parts of Copilot that you as a data controller cannot turn off? The parts that are integrated into M365? Well, we see that we must address this in some way in this DPIA.
We do not have the answer yet on how we will address this. We just know that we must include the parts of Copilot that are fully integrated into M365 in some way. Therefore, the Copilot web version is included â i.e., the part of Copilot that is part of Edge.
For the other parts of Copilot, we refer to the work that NTNU and the Norwegian Data Protection Autorithy have already done on Copilot. These assessments should give a good indication of whether your organization is mature enough to use Copilot or not.
The Dutch authorities have also conducted a DPIA of Copilot that might be worth looking at. We would assume that many of the risks identified by the Netherlands also apply to Norwegian administration.
I wish you a wonderful, privacy-friendly week-end!
Best regards,
Ida Thorsrud
Project manager national DPIA
This newsletter was translated from Norwegian to English with assistance from ChatGPT by OpenAI. While it guided our translation, we made independent editorial choices. Any discrepancies result from this combined approach.