Blogs

Yesterday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Jane Napolitano announced that her department is releasing new directives concerning border searches of electronic media. Napolitano said the new procedures are “designed to reflect broad considerations of civil liberties and privacy protections.”  The directives provide clarity on when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may conduct searches, which promote national security and deter criminal activities, including child pornography or copyright infringement.

EDUCAUSE has chosen Greg Jackson, Vice President and CIO at the University of Chicago, as the association’s new vice president of policy and analysis.  Jackson, who will work primarily in the Washington, DC office, was a CIO for the past thirteen years at one of the nation’s leading research universities.  Prior to his service in Chicago, he was a director of academic computing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  Jackson has served on the education faculties at Harvard and Stanford, including as a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government.  He holds a doctorate of education from Harvard, as well as a bachelor of science in engineering and history from MIT.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released final breach notification rules pertaining to personal and electronic health records.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included the HITECH Act, which provides a plan for nationwide health IT.  The plan addresses security and privacy of patient records, especially where HIPAA protections are limited or nonexistent in the electronic realm.  Yesterday, the law firm Pepper Hamilton (PH) conducted a webinar in order to cover some of the basics relating to the new rules, which will go into effect next month.

Last Friday, August 21, the Department of Education issued its long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) related to Peer-to-Peer File Sharing on campus networks. The proposed regulations reflect the agreement reached by representatives of higher education and the entertainment industry during Negotiated Rulemaking sessions held earlier this year.

The proposed regulations create three primary requirements:

The U.S. Department of Education published the latest notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) relating to the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) today.  This particular NPRM, which is featured in the Federal Register, addresses the P2P (peer-to-peer) provisions, among other issues in the HEOA.  The HEOA specifically states that campuses must notify students annually about copyright law and campus policies related to it.  Additionally, the law requires colleges and universities to develop a plan to “effectively combat” copyright infringement using a “variety of technology-based deterrents” and agree to offer alternatives to illegal downloading. 

As required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently issued a final rule pertaining to breach notification when health information is compromised by Web-based businesses. The rule requires “vendors of health records and related entities to notify consumers following a breach involving unsecured information.”  Additionally, it provides more information on the “timing, method, and content of [the] notification” and requires a notice to the media in breaches where 500 or more people are affected.