[CASL-L] Institutional subscribers: Demand a refund from the New York Times!

[Michelle Luhtala]

In October, I sent this email to our rep, Tara Risi <tara.risi at nytimes.com>,
at the New York Times:








*Dear Tara, I have been trying to work with your team to develop a system
for our learners to access our $2,028.00 institutional subscription to the
New York Times since May 13, 2020. At that time, remote learning made it
impossible for our students to access our school's subscription. From March
through June of 2020, we paid for a service you failed to deliver. This is
an ongoing problem. Our district currently has 111 people out sick or in
quarantine due to COVID-19. According to our superintendent, our school
could switch back to hybrid or fully remote learning if the circumstances
warranted it. Currently, whether students are on campus or at home, they
are prompted to provide personal contact information:*[image: image.png]





*I have involved you, EBSCO (Case #4213847), OpenAthens, and our district
tech support team to no avail. Our learners are still being prompted to
share their personal data with the NYT, and the NYT refuses to sign our
district privacy agreement.[NCPS Data Privacy Contract 2019-20]*










*In other words, the New York Time is refusing to deliver the services
promised in our contract. [copy of signed contract]I am requesting a refund
in the amount of $2028.00 for this year's services since you are not in
compliance with our contract. Please remit the full amount to our business
office. Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. *

Shortly after I sent that, This email was forwarded to me:

From: Casey, Doug <Doug.Casey at ct.gov>
Date: Tue, Nov 3, 2020 at 9:22 AM
Subject: New York Times
To: <CET_K-12_EDTECH at list.ct.gov>


Good morning,



I have some bad news and good news regarding the *New York Times* high
school program. At this point, they refuse to review our terms or sign the
pledge, so schools should not be directing students to use the service.
However, as with any ed tech solution, if students choose to do so on their
own, they can do so here:



https://www.nytimes.com/initiative/highschoolaccess



The “good news” part is that anyone can use the free content through the
*Times* Learning Network here:



https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning



Doing so does not require registration and collection of personal student
information, so it falls outside the Connecticut data privacy statute. The
Learning Network offers lesson plans and activities for students as well as
access to a subset of *Times *articles.



Best,



Doug


------------------------------

*Doug Casey | Executive Director*

*Connecticut Commission for Educational Technology*

*Department of Administrative Services*

55 Farmington Avenue

Hartford, CT 06105

doug.casey at ct.gov

Office: (860) 622-2224

www.CT.gov/CTEdTech <http://www.ct.gov/CTEdTech>


It took a while, but The New York Times finally issued us a refund. I
encourage you to demand the same. Hopefully, if enough subscribers demand
refunds, they might rethink their refusal to comply with Connecticut state
law.

Feel free to use any part of my email.

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Be safe and be well,

Michelle
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