Beyond the collection of our children’s education-related data, we don’t want industry behemoths to profile our children and target them with advertisements and shady content. We don’t want children to fear that anything they say or do online could be used against them someday. And we don’t want technology companies to compete for our children’s attention just so that they can claim their loyalties when they come of age to join a social media network, choose an email provider or purchase their first cellphones. It is not just about the protection of data; it is a matter of letting children learn and grow without concern about how their early preferences, talents and habits could shape the opportunities they have in the future.

But laws in the United States offer students very little digital privacy or security protection against the wiles of the industry.

Wherever the rules are muddy for the industry, we should make them resoundingly clear in such a way that protects our children and, implicitly, our national interest. If we have learned anything about Silicon Valley this year, it is that we cannot sit back and wait for the industry to voluntarily act on behalf of children; our government must intervene before more harm comes to them.

Tech companies should not be permitted to collect data on children and profile them using their personal data without a parent or guardian’s meaningful consent to the data collection. In an educational setting, in which children might be denied the ability to participate in certain learning activities if their parents object, meaningful consent is a often simply not possible. They should not be allowed to market products to a child based on inferences about the child’s behaviors, preferences, beliefs or interests, and they should not be allowed to sell or share a child’s personal data to a third party under any circumstances. These protections, must be brought to every child in America.

We don’t have to start from scratch. In 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed into law an important piece of legislation to protect children’s privacy. Months later, President Obama pushed to federalize a similar approach through his announcement of the Student Digital Privacy Act. That bill, the culmination of years of advocacy and conversation, gained bipartisan support in the House and the Senate — but it continues to languish in Congress largely because of industry attempts to water it down. Another recent effort deserving broader support is the Do Not Track Kids bill, which too gained strong bipartisan support and would prohibit behavioral advertising targeted to children under the age of 13 — but the political impetus behind it has also fallen off in recent months.