From the somebody-please-clone-this-kid-and-put-him-in-charge dept:
Niamh Coomey reports:
Second-year student Sina Roughani hoped to impress his crush last year with an atypical birthday gift — improving University of Minnesota’s student data privacy policy.
The electrical engineering student devoted much of his first semester at the University in 2017 to advocating for a change in the student records policy. Roughani became concerned when he found information like students’ home addresses and phone numbers were publicly available on the University’s People Search database. He focuses on student data privacy by helping student government leaders push for less available information online.
By using his computer science knowledge, he discovered weaknesses in the database’s security, and voiced his concerns to President Eric Kaler, University administration, peers and the Minnesota Student Association.
MSA passed a resolution in December suggesting the University publish less student information by default and be more transparent in how the information is being used.
Read more on Minnesota Daily.