Mark Walsh reports that EPIC’s lawsuit against the U.S. Education Department has been dismissed for lack of standing:
A federal judge has a thrown out a lawsuit challenging 2011 regulations for the main federal education privacy law that added student identification numbers to the “directory” of information that may be disclosed by schools and colleges.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center and four individuals sued the U.S. Department of Education over the latest rules for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, or FERPA.
But Judge Amy Berman Jackson of U.S. District Court in Washington issued summary judgment for the Education Department, ruling that the plaintiffs have not suffered any real legal injuries stemming from the regulations and thus they lack legal standing to bring their suit.
Read more on Education Week.
In noting the dismissal on its own web site, EPIC.org writes, “EPIC intends to take further steps to safeguard student privacy.” It does not indicate what those steps might be and whether there will be any additional legal challenges to the 2011 regulations.