Family Educations Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Apr 14 2020

Without Consent: An analysis of student directory information practices in U.S. schools, and impacts on privacy

Without Consent is the first major benchmarking privacy report to examine school directory information practices and related privacy issues in a multi-year study across more than 5,000 schools at the primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. The research found troubling and challenging student privacy problems that need to be urgently addressed. The report contains extensive findings and recommendations regarding student privacy, and includes best practices, sample forms, and resources for schools, parents, and students.

Apr 02 2020

Coronavirus Testing and Privacy: Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ provides responses to the most frequently asked questions about coronavirus and privacy, especially COVID-19 testing, records, and health privacy for people in, or visiting, the U.S.

Jan 24 2017

Did I just sign a permission slip that lets an in-school dental clinic extract my child’s teeth? Navigating student and school health privacy

A Baltimore mom was surprised and unhappy recently when her son came home from school missing three teeth. The source? A mobile dental clinic at a Baltimore city public school had extracted some of her son’s teeth that day. The mother didn’t realize it, but she had already consented to the dental work through signing a permission slip/release form.

Feb 22 2016

(Updated) Urgent for California Parents: Detailed student SSNs, medical information to be released by a court

Update for March 3, 2016: This week a judge has ordered that the approximately 10 million records of California students held by the California Department of Education will not be turned entirely over to a group of community nonprofits in the Morgan Hill case. Instead, the judge ordered that several smaller databases will be turned over

Oct 02 2015

WPF files comments on new FERPA student health privacy guidance

The World Privacy Forum filed comments to the US Department of Education regarding its student health privacy guidance published August 18, 2015. The World Privacy Forum supports the DoE guidance, which clarifies how universities and colleges are to handle sensitive student medical records in cases of non-medical litigation. The guidance notes that educational institutions should

National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.
COVID-19 and HIPAA: HHS’s Troubled Approach to Waiving Privacy and Security Rules for the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic strained the U.S. health ecosystem in numerous ways, including putting pressure on the HIPAA privacy and security rules. The Department of Health and Human Services adjusted the privacy and security rules for the pandemic through the use of statutory and administrative HIPAA waivers. While some of the adjustments are appropriate for the emergency circumstances, there are also some meaningful and potentially unwelcome privacy and security consequences. At an appropriate time, the use of HIPAA waivers as a response to health care emergencies needs a thorough review. This report sets out the facts, identifies the issues, and proposes a roadmap for change.