I really think that SCOTUS is going to need to hear at least one FERPA case and rule on whether the federal law protecting the privacy of education records trumps states’ open records laws if the state accepts federal education dollars. In Oklahoma, we saw the state’s education department deciding that they could accept federal…
Category: Youth & Schools
UK: The National Pupil Database is not open data
From Privacy International: This weekend, the Department for Education sponsored an “appathon”, allowing attendees access to the National Pupil Database (which holds information like exam results, special education needs, truancy records and eligibility for free school meals on every child at every state school in the country) and inviting people to build “apps”. The database contains over…
A Moment to Celebrate: No Data Retention Mandate in Smith’s New Child Protection Bill
Rainey Reitman of EFF writes: It’s a very good day for Internet freedom – a controversial, anti-privacy data retention mandate is notably absent from the child protection bill recently introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith. SOPA-author Lamar Smith had previously introduced H.R. 1981, which would have mandated that ISPs collect and maintain data on Internet users not suspected of…
Oklahoma education advocates demand privacy for waiver candidates
Carrie Coppemoll provides an update on the Oklahoma FERPA mess I’ve blogged about several times: The state Education Department identified students asking for graduation waivers by numbers and school districts instead of names after a privacy dust up earlier in June. At its June 5 meeting, the Board of Education named students who requested…