This Week in Student Privacy: 11/11
Student Privacy Pledge Continues to Gain Traction
Alongside technology companies like Apple, Google, and Blackboard, Verificient Technologies and Haiku learning have “announced their commitment to protecting student personal information, by signing the Student Privacy Pledge.”
The Student Privacy Pledge was “developed by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)” in response to “parents and families […] grappling with a variety of student data concerns.” According to Jules Polonetsky, “the Pledge will enhance the trust between families, schools and third party service providers necessary to support the safe and effective use of student information for student, teacher and school success.”
The crux of the Pledge is that service providers will be “accountable to:
- Not sell student information
- Not behaviorally target advertising
- Use data for authorized education purposes only
- Not change privacy policies without notice and choice
- Enforce strict limits on data retention
- Support parental access to, and correction of errors in, their children’s information
- Provide comprehensive security standards
- Be transparent about collection and use of data”
Read more about Verificient and Haiku: “Haiku Learning Signs Student Privacy Pledge” (Virtual Strategy Magazine), “Verificient Technologies signs the Student Privacy Pledge” (Biometric Update)
Read about the Student Privacy Pledge: “K-12 Student Privacy Pledge Announced” (Future of Privacy Forum), “Microsoft, 13 other firms take student privacy pledge” (PCWorld)
Articles/Resources
- Phys.org: “Student scientists, dusty data, and dirty discoveries”
- Lexology: “Report on student data privacy highlights two key issues for school leaders”
- EducationDIVE: “Teachers disagree over meaning of ‘formative assessments’”
- DailyMiner: “Student privacy issues raised after Havasu switches data systems”
- The Chronicle of Higher Education: “Richer Data on College Applicants Help the Prospects of Low-Income Students”
- CNBC: “Privacy will hit tipping point in 2016”
- Christian Science Monitor: “ACLU urges digital privacy safeguards for students”
- The Atlantic: “The Ever-Growing Ed-Tech Market”
- Deseret News: “Audit: Sensitive student information released in 5,500 transactions”
- Providence Journal: “RI to spend $150,000 on education data sharing project”
- Education World: “New Data Reveals Significant Decline in High School Dropouts”
- SmartData Collective: “Big Data E-Learning Is Improving Education”
- WILX10 (Michigan): “Bills Could Regulate How Student Data is Stored and Sold”
- ZDNet: “Queensland TAFE student data exposed in hack”
- Michigan Radio: “http://michiganradio.org/post/bills-protect-k-12-student-data-advance-lansingBills to protect K-12 student data advance in Lansing”
- Nixon Peabody: “Citing costs to taxpayers, the Obama Administration reiterates support for amending the TCPA to exempt student loan servicers”
This update was compiled by Jeremiah Milbauer, with help from Paulina Haduong. Jeremiah is a first year at the University of Chicago and an intern for the Student Privacy Initiative at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
