Category Archives: education data

2017. The Feds Have Weakened Student Data Privacy. Here's what groups want the states to do:

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC.org) wants states to pass bills that:

  • No Targeted Ads. prohibit K-12 mobile and online service operators from using student information to target advertisements to students;
  • No Profiling Students. prohibit online service providers from creating K-12 student profiles for commercial purposes; 
  • No Selling Info. forbid companies from selling student information;
  • All Students (K-16) extend protection to all students, including college…

TREND. State Agency Faults School District. No Data Security Policy.

The state: New York

The NY State Agency: New York Comptroller

The School District: Avon School District

The Avon School District’s data security failings:

  • not adopting policies for managing passwords
  • not backing up data
  • not protecting its employees’ and students’ personal, private and sensitive information
  • making the school district more vulnerable to data breach
  • providing too many employees access to financial information of the school district
  • for failing to implment the…

TREND. Student Data Law Changes School Curriculum.

Which state added curriculum changes in its student data protection laws? Delaware

What changes ere made to public school curriculum? data security training

Why train teachers and students on data security? because human error is the largest driver of data breaches

Delaware Public Meda | First State working to incorporate data privacy training into ed prep programs

Lege Trend. 5 Key Points from Student Data Protection laws in the Mountains.

Which state passed student data protection bills in 2016? Colorado

What does the new legislation cover? 

  • the gathering of student data
    • requires notice & consent
  • the storage of student data
    • limits on the length of storage
  • require all contractors to maintain comprehensive information security programs
    • limits contractors from sharing information unless there is express consent
  • no target advertising 
  • no building student profiles

JD Supra | Thompson Coburn LLP| Colorado jumps…

Lege Trend. 5 Benefits of Student Data Protection Legislation. Procurement. Contracts Impacted.

Connecticut passed student data privacy legislation in 2016.

A group of mothers who started the push for student data privacy reform are touting its benefits:

  • Restricting student information use by contractors providing educational software and electronic storage of student records and by operators of websites, online services, or mobile applications (i.e., apps).
  • Clarifying ownership student data collected for school purposes is not owned by any of these third-party…

3 Concerns with Model Student Data Privacy Laws.

What groups are concerned by model student data privacy laws? 24+ civil liberties and advocacy organizations

What’s the model act called? Employee and Student Online Privacy Protection Act

The privacy concerns about the model act:

  • broad and vague

  • does not prevent school administrators & employers from coercing or requiring students and employees to turn over highly sensitive social media account information

  • violates the Fourth or Fifth Amendment

Electronic Fronteir…

School District Hack from the Inside. Criminal Charges. 3 Bits Informed Intel.

Which school district was affected by an internal hack? Abingdon-Avon School District, IL

Who is thought to have  hacked the school district internally? The Head of its IT

The purported purpose? Changing grades

The state law charges? 3 felony counts of Eavesdropping

KWQC | Abingdon-Avon employee arrested in relation to data breach

Anatomy of a School District Data Breach. 5 Things the School District Did to Respond.

Which school district experienced a data breach of its W-2 data, and all data retlated to persons who have received payment from the school district? Concord, N.H.

When did the breach occur? April

How did the breach occur? Social engineering, a targeted approach in which the hacker masquerades as the superintendent soliciting information

Did the data breach result in the information being used? Yes, false tax returns were filed based on the hacked information

When did the school…

Schools Targeted by Data Collectors. The Intel to Know the Trend:

“Learning to be Watched: Surveillance Culture at School” report published  by the National Center for Education Policy at the University of Colorado at Boulder finds:

  • schools are soft targets for comapnies gathering data
  • free technology to school leads to data collection by the company
  • anonymized student data does not mean  students’ personally identifiable information (PII) is fully or permanently protected

Washington Post | Schools are now ‘soft targets’ for companies to…