PIPC Releases New "Fixing FERPA" Installment
The Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC) is pleased to announce the release of the latest installment in the “Fixing FERPA” series: Protecting Student Privacy in the Cloud.
The "Fixing FERPA" series explores the current challenges of implementing the 50-year-old Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) – the U.S.’s primary student privacy law – in modern classrooms, and proposes actionable solutions to revamp FERPA’s privacy protections for the 21st century.
Protecting Student Privacy in the Cloud discusses how ambiguity around the term "maintained" may expose students to various privacy risks when using edtech platforms at school by weakening FERPA’s protections for student data collected online and stored on third party servers. To address this issue, future rulemaking processes should clarify that an education record is "maintained" whenever student data is accessible to the educational agency or institution, regardless of where it is stored.
Previous installments in the series are FERPA 101 FAQs, guides to FERPA’s Exceptions and Exemptions, and five additional recommendations:
Clarifying Data Sharing Through a Defined Pedagogical Exception
Strengthening Transparency & Confidence in FERPA Enforcement
Increasing Transparency to Make FERPA’s Privacy Protections More Meaningful
Additional “Fixing FERPA” recommendations will continue to be released by PIPC over the next several months, contributing to the ongoing discussions about better protecting student privacy.
ICYMI:
In addition to our recent stakeholder alert, A Kids Online Safety Bill in Time for the Holidays? It's Possible, PIPC released our high level analysis of whether KOSPA’s changes to the duty of care language in KOSA adequately address opponents’ two primary arguments for why KOSA may be unconstitutional. See our analysis here: KOSA’s Constitutionality Concerns: Do KOSPA’s Edits Fix the Issues?
Additionally, last week PIPC joined two letters supporting COPPA 2.0. Stay tuned to see if Congress passes COPPA 2.0 before the holiday break.