Federal Privacy Law

January is Data Privacy Month

You know the importance of protecting personal identities and the effects social media can have on privacy, but does everyone on your campus? In 2012, during the month of January, EDUCAUSE expanded on Data Privacy Day to provide an entire month’s worth of activities and resources to help raise data privacy awareness. Visit the EDUCAUSE Data Privacy Month page for examples of campus activities, as well as archived recordings of several privacy-related webinars.

Privacy in a Networked Environment

With the explosive growth of electronic networks and wide accessibility of online information, EDUCAUSE members -- along with many other higher education constituencies -- are dealing with a formidable set of privacy issues. A key set of issues revolves around the handling of student information, which under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 enjoys special protection.

Other Sources of Information about Online Privacy

• Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties organization working in the public interest to protect privacy, free expression, and access to public resources and information in new media.
• Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a public interest research center in Washington, D.C., established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy.
• Privacy Forum, a moderated digest for the discussion and analysis of issues relating to the general topic of privacy (both personal and collective) in the "information age" of the 1990's and beyond.
• Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), a public-interest alliance of computer scientists and others interested in the impact of computer technology on society.

Updated February 2012