Over on Huffington Post, Gerry Smith is singing my tune about the education sector in terms of data security exposing students to the risk of identity theft. Here’s a snippet: But the U.S. Department of Education has warned schools not to use students’ Social Security numbers in their databases, urging them instead to create other unique…
Category: Youth & Schools
UT: School on defensive after telling parents their son is gay
Sylvia Wood reports: A school district in Utah is defending its decision to “out” a middle-school student as gay to his parents in light of safety and bullying concerns. “The administrator did exactly the right thing,” said Rhonda Bromley, a spokeswoman for the Alpine School District in Lehi, Utah. “We are not going to back…
Under settlement with family, Va. Tech must notify parents of suicidal students
Daniel de Vise reports: One November day in 2007, an e-mail arrived at the Virginia Tech health center warning that a 21-year-old senior named Daniel Kim might be suicidal. Within weeks, Kim was dead. And only then did his parents learn of the e-mail. Four years later, the university has reached a legal settlement with…
Webkinz children’s site is subject of complaint to FTC
Dawn C. Chmielewski reports: The children’s online site Webkinz is the focus of a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission by a child advocacy group, which is urging the agency to investigate corporate parent Ganz for alleged deceptive and unfair trade practices. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood on Tuesday accused the Canadian owner…