EDUCAUSE | Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; and Federal Privacy Law

Wi-Fi 'illegal images' politician defends legislation

ckeller — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:58:14 -0600

The Democratic sponsor of a bill forcing anyone with an open Wi-Fi connection to report illegal images--or pay fines of up to $300,000--says a recent Internet outcry over the legislation misses the point.

Rep. Nick Lampson of Texas, who drafted the bill that the House of Representatives approved this week, said through a spokesman on Thursday that he didn't actually mean to target Americans who happen to have Wi-Fi access points at home. The legislation also covers social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail.

Congress Mulls Change in Student-Records Law to Help Prevent Violence

ckeller — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:30:11 -0500

"In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre last spring, Congress is considering a change in a key federal privacy law to encourage colleges to relay information to the parents or guardians of deeply troubled students. Some critics of the measure argue, however, that will only compound the colleges' confusion regarding what information they are allowed to share."

Judge deals blow to Patriot Act

ckeller — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:50:35 -0500

A key portion of the Patriot Act is unconstitutional and violates Americans' free speech rights, a federal judge said Thursday in a case that could represent a bitter setback for the Bush administration's attempts to expand its surveillance powers.

FERPA Allows More Than You May Realize

ckeller — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:42:52 -0500

"Recent campus incidents have highlighted the importance of effective communication among administrators, faculty, and staff, as well as between campus representatives and students, families, and surrounding communities. Some commentators have argued that these incidents prove the need to amend the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the federal statute known as FERPA that protects student privacy, in order to permit greater disclosure of information about troubled students. Actually, the current law works well, but colleges and universities need to better understand what that law really provides — and each institution needs to develop an internal consensus on how to approach the policy choices FERPA allows it to make. "

Privacy vs. Security

drupal — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:57:32 -0500

"Even before all the details emerged in last week's mass shootings at Virginia Tech University, a specific chain of responses seemed certain: The university would announce an internal investigation, an outside law enforcement agency would commence its own, colleges across the country would promise to revisit their safety procedures and Congress would hold a hearing."

Defining Privacy — and Its Limits

drupal — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:28:40 -0500

"A student in a public university dormitory room had a "reasonable expectation of privacy" for his personal computer and its hard drive, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday. The decision also found that despite that right to privacy, an administrator in the case under review had the right to conduct a remote search of the computer — without a warrant — because of the circumstances involved."

GOP Revives ISP-tracking Legislation

drupal — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:48:42 -0600

"All Internet service providers would need to track their customers' online activities to aid police in future investigations under legislation introduced Tuesday as part of a Republican "law and order agenda."

Data Breach Bills Resurface in Congress

drupal — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:18:40 -0600

"Concealing security breaches in which personal consumer information may have been swiped could carry prison time under a pair of sweeping proposals that resurfaced recently in Congress."

IPEDS on Steroids

drupal — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:01:48 -0600

"With "unit records" database in doubt, Education Departmentexplores huge expansion of core system for tracking collegesand students."

Backer of ISP Snooping Slams Industry

drupal — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 15:24:24 -0500

"Congress' leading proponent of forcing Internet service providers to retain records about their users' activities lashed out at the industry recently, saying such a federal law will be a "very minor burden" to bear."