Saturday, September 6, 2014

FERPA Alert!

An alert by ANITA HOGE


PROTECTING STUDENT PRIVACY ACT OF 2014
Does Not Protect Your Child's Privacy!

      
This Bill Allows President Obama's Executive Order to Share Data, to Become Law, Allowing Student Personally Identifiable Information to be Given to Outside Third Party Contractors Without Your Consent. 


http://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2014-05-12_StudentPrivacy_DiscussionDraft.pdf 
Senator Markey, (D)Mass, and Senator Hatch, (R)UT, released a draft bill on July 30th to amend FERPA, Family Education Rights in Privacy Act called Protecting Student Privacy Act of 2014.  This bill will put the controversial regulations that President Obama changed in FERPA without Congressional authority, into federal law.  So now, Hatch and Markey are trying to sidestep parents and make the outrageous Obama regulation that "unlocked data" that allows outside contractors to access personally identifiable information, into federal law. These Senators are NOT on our side, parents!  There are NO protections for our children's records. They have aligned themselves with the Obama agenda, and Obama wants it ALL...all the personal data on your kids. We say NO! 


BEWARE: This draft bill is GARBAGE! This bill will continue to allow personally identifiable information on our children to be given to 3rd party outside contractors by law. Who ARE these groups and people who can have our children's data for free? Read the list of states below to get the information to request WHO has your child's data. They DO NOT need parents permission to get the data! They do this behind our backs. We say NO!

Did these Senators help to STOP personally identifiable information so that organizations like the Center for Disease Control could NOT access your child's DNA without informing the parents?  NO!  Does this bill allow for that to happen? YES! 

This allows Obama to continue his agenda that opened the flood gates of 'free for all' data on our children.  

We say NO! Withdraw this bill!
Expose this Agenda!
We Want Protections For Our Children!
Call Today!
We Want A Congressional Investigation
Into Data Trafficking!

  • Markey's phone-tel:(202)-224-2742   (617)-565-8519
  • Hatch's phone-tel:(202)-224-5251   (801) 524-4380 
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2014/07/senators_introduce_new_federal.html?cmp=ENL-DD-NEWS1
Request Your State's Data Trafficking Agenda! 
Below are templates that you can use to request the written agreements in your state so you would know which organizations can access personally identifiable information on your children. We have a list of states that have developed a written agreement template to allow access to your child's private information, PII. YOU may request the contracts yourself or go through your local state representative. This would expose the Obama/FERPA/Markey/Hatch agenda, in that, they are continuing to block the safety and privacy of our children and our families by allowing personal data to flow to outside contractors. Lets stop this, NOW! 

Look at the List Below to find your State that may have a Data Sharing Template or Information so that you may Request the Contracts for  Personally Identifiable Information that have been done Without Parents Knowledge and Consent. Let's Stop the Data Trafficking! 









  • Pennsylvania Data Collection TeamPennsylvania Department of Education - Division of Data Quality, 333 Market Street | Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333, Phone: 717.787.2644 | Fax: 717.787.3148 | TTY: 717.783.844, Ra-DDQDataCollection@pa.gov | www.education.state.pa.us























Research Papers







Markey/Hatch Privacy Act Loopholes

Continues to Allow any outside 3rd party who maintains or stores such personally identifiable information, including contractors, volunteers, consultants, or other authorized representatives, to follow the policies and procedures.
  • Ensures that any person, contractor, volunteer, consultant, or other authorized representative that has access to education records with personally identifiable information not employed by the  educational agency or institution, handles and stores data properly (this does not stop their access)
  • Allows parents the right to access the information and challenge and correct misleading the information (do you know who has your child's data?)

FERPA Privacy Loopholes

Link to Federal Regulations: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/pdf/2012-final-regs.pdf
  •  The definition of Personally Identifiable Information is expanded to a biometric record which includes fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voiceprints, DNA sequence, facial characteristics, and handwriting.
  •  Prior consent is NOT required to disclose personal information if a written agreement of the disclosure is to other school officials, including teachers, within the agency or institution whom the agency or institution has determined to have legitimate educational interests  (§ 99.31)
  • A contractor, consultant, volunteer, or other party to whom an agency or institution has outsourced institutional services or functions may be considered a school official
  • Disclosure can be made to organizations conducting studies to: Develop, validate, or administer predictive tests; Administer student aid programs; or Improve instruction. (§ 99.33)
  • Personally identifiable information may be disclosed by a state or local educational authority or agency by entering into written agreements with organizations conducting studies 
  •  Organizations are defined as Federal, State, and local agencies, and independent organizations
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g(b)(1)(C), (b)(3), and (b)(5))

“Biometric record,” as used in the definition of “personally identifiable information,” means a record of one or more measurable biological or behavioral characteristics that can be used for automated recognition of an individual. Examples include fingerprints; retina and iris patterns; voiceprints; DNA sequence; facial characteristics; and handwriting. 
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g(b)(4)(A))

"Personally Identifiable Information"

The term includes, but is not limited to--

(a) The student’s name;

(b) The name of the student’s parent or other family members;

(c) The address of the student or student’s family;

(d) A personal identifier, such as the student’s social security number, student number, or biometric record;

(e) Other indirect identifiers, such as the student’s date of birth, place of birth, and mother’s maiden name;

(f) Other information that, alone or in combination, is linked or linkable to a specific student that would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty; or

(g) Information requested by a person who the educational agency or institution reasonably believes knows the identity of the student to whom the education record relates.
Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g (b)(1) and (b)(2)(A))
§ 99.31 Under what conditions is prior consent not required to disclose information?

(a) An educational agency or institution may disclose personally identifiable information from an education record of a student without the consent required by § 99.30 if the disclosure meets one or more of the following conditions:

(1)(i)(A) The disclosure is to other school officials, including teachers, within the agency or institution whom the agency or institution has determined to have legitimate educational interests.

(B) A contractor, consultant, volunteer, or other party to whom an agency or institution has outsourced institutional services or functions may be considered a school official under this paragraph provided that the outside party--

(1) Performs an institutional service or function for which the agency or institution would otherwise use employees;

(2) Is under the direct control of the agency or institution with respect to the use and maintenance of education records; and

(3) Is subject to the requirements of

§ 99.33(a) governing the use and redisclosure of personally identifiable information from education records.

(ii) An educational agency or institution must use reasonable methods to ensure that school officials obtain access to only those education records in which they have legitimate educational interests.

An educational agency or institution that does not use physical or technological access controls must ensure that its administrative policy for controlling access to education records is effective and that it remains in compliance with the legitimate educational interest requirement in paragraph (a)(1)(i)(A) of this section.

(2) The disclosure is, subject to the requirements of § 99.34, to officials of another school, school system, or institution of postsecondary education where the student seeks or intends to enroll, or where the student is already enrolled so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student’s enrollment or transfer.
(ii) Paragraph (a)(5)(l) of this section does not prevent a State from further limiting the number or type of State or local officials to whom disclosures may be made under that paragraph.

(6)(i) The disclosure is to organizations conducting studies for, or on behalf of, educational agencies or institutions to:

(A) Develop, validate, or administer predictive tests;

(B) Administer student aid programs; or

(C) Improve instruction.


(ii) Nothing in the Act or this part prevents a State or local educational authority or agency headed by an official listed in paragraph (a)(3) of this section from entering into agreements with organizations conducting studies under paragraph (a)(6)(i) of this section and redisclosing personally identifiable information from education records on behalf of educational agencies and institutions that disclosed the information to the State or local educational authority or agency headed by an official listed in paragraph (a)(3) of this section in accordance with the requirements of § 99.33(b).

(iii) An educational agency or institution may disclose personally identifiable information under paragraph (a)(6)(i) of this section, and a State or local educational authority or agency headed by an official listed in paragraph (a)(3) of this section may redisclose personally identifiable information under paragraph (a)(6)(i) and (a)(6)(ii) of this section, only if –

(A) The study is conducted in a manner that does not permit personal identification of parents and students by individuals other than representatives of the organization that have legitimate interests in the information;

(B) The information is destroyed when no longer needed for the purposes for which the study was conducted; and

(C) The educational agency or institution or the State or local educational authority or agency headed by an official listed in paragraph (a)(3) of this section enters into a written agreement with the organization that –

(1) Specifies the purpose, scope, and duration of the study or studies and the information to be disclosed;

(2) Requires the organization to use personally identifiable information from education records only to meet the purpose or purposes of the study as stated in the written agreement;

(3) Requires the organization to conduct the study in a manner that does not permit personal identification of parents and students, as defined in this part, by anyone other than representatives of the organization with legitimate interests; and

(4) Requires the organization to destroy all personally identifiable information when the information is no longer needed for the purposes for which the study was conducted and specifies the time period in which the information must be destroyed.

(iv) An educational agency or institution or State or local educational authority or Federal agency headed by an official listed in paragraph (a)(3) of this section is not required to initiate a study or agree with or endorse the conclusions or results of the study.

(v) For the purposes of paragraph (a)(6) of this section, the term "organization" includes, but is not limited to, Federal, State, and local agencies, and independent organizations.



LISTEN TO ANITA HOGE INTERVIEW:
http://alternatecurrentradio.com/charlottesweb/

Posted by at