Oregon AG watches student info privacy bill advance

The Oregon Student Information Protection Act was passed out of the Oregon House Education Committee on Wednesday and is on its way to the House floor for final passage, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said.

Senate Bill 187-A has already been unanimously approved by the Oregon Senate, and will now move to the floor of the Oregon House for a vote.

OSIPA would prohibit “data mining” information obtained from K-12 schoolchildren through online educational programs and “apps” that are often used in the classroom, unless it is for an educational purpose.

Many companies now digitally track much of what goes on during a student’s day at school, including the student’s educational records, email address, home address, discipline history, test results, grades, juvenile records, socioeconomic information, food purchases and more.

Once captured, this information can be used to develop a marketing profile that can follow a student for life, Rosenblum said.

“It’s scary to think we live in a world where data mining now starts as early as kindergarten. We must safeguard children’s data against inappropriate uses,” Rosenblum said. “This bill restricts the use of sensitive data for non-educational purposes without preventing legitimate educational use.”

Educational technology services, which are commonplace in today ‘s classrooms, ask a student to create and log into an account so that information can be collected while the student is using the service.

“These educational tools are valuable, but Oregon must draw clear lines when it comes to our children’s data,” the AG added. “Our students should not become a captive audience for targeted corporate marketing. I look forward to working with the Oregon Legislature, on behalf of Oregon children, parents and teachers, to create clear boundaries.”