In December 2017, the U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop focused on ed tech and student privacy. The workshop brought together a wide range of stakeholders interested in protecting student privacy – business, education, and consumer advocates.

In what can be compared to a modern-day technology sprint, California’s legislature introduced and passed far-reaching privacy legislation - the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) - in less than a week. The multi-year effort by privacy advocates, technology companies, network providers and others before introduction ended in the final push in the legislature was completed in the just six days. This far-reaching legislation will have impact across many different business sectors when it goes into effect on January 1, 2020 requiring for-profit businesses, not just technology companies, to provide the consumer access to the personal information collected about her, the opportunity to delete the data, and to allow her the opportunity to opt-out of the sale of personal information to third parties (or, if under the age of 16, the ability to opt-in). Much like the software development process, the California legislature has acknowledged the need to fix the “bugs” ...

As Congress considers student privacy legislation in the waning days of this session, it is important to keep in mind two major points.  First, strong, multi-layered protections are already in place: current law, contracts, and voluntary industry commitments are all working together to safeguard student privacy.  In particular, current law already forbids using student information for targeted advertising, and the industry is in compliance with this prohibition.

SIIA Weights in with White House on “Big Data and Privacy”

First weeks of 2014 Promise a Busy Year on Student Data Privacy Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) announced plans today to introduce student data privacy legislation, likely amending the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The announcement was made at an EPIC event and featured reaction from CLIP’s Joel Ridenberg and USED CPO Kathleen Styles, among others. Senator Markey’s legislationwould restrict the use of student data for commercial purposes, require parental access and correction, require minimum security safeguards, and require private companies to delete information no longer needed to serve those students. SIIA responded that Federal Laws Protect Student Privacy. This week’s USED response to questions from Senator Markey similarly reinforced current federal protections. Meanwhile, state legislatures are considering bills across the country ranging from parental opt-in or opt-out to Parent’s Bill of Right ...