Support student privacy amendment
Gary Ruskin
gary@essential.org
Tue, 15 May 2001 09:19:43 -0700
Commercial Alert May 15, 2001
– Support U.S. Senate amendment to protect students' privacy from
corporate marketers and snoops.
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote within the next ten days on an
amendment to require parental consent before a corporation or person can
extract personal information from a child in school. The amendment (SA
457) is sponsored by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Shelby
(R-AL).
Increasingly, corporations use the schools to gather personal
information and other market research from vulnerable schoolchildren –
without parental consent, and against the wishes of many parents.
Companies such as the ZapMe! Corp., N2H2 Inc. and Noggin, among others,
have tried to turn the schools into market research factories. The
Dodd-Shelby amendment would help safeguard children from such commercial
exploitation.
The Dodd-Shelby amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(ESEA) requires:
(1) schools to develop a policy regarding in-school commercial
activities;
(2) parental notification and consent regarding the gathering of
information from children in the classroom, the individual to whom the
information will be disclosed, how that information will be used, and
the amount of class time consumed; and,
(3) that parents must be informed of the school's policy, as well as any
changes or exceptions that alter that policy.
The Dodd-Shelby amendment is not perfect. It contains a loophole that
allows local school boards to adopt policies that would not require
parental consent before extraction of market research. Nevertheless, we
think the Dodd-Shelby amendment is worth supporting because it is a step
against corporate exploitation of schoolchildren.
Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) has offered a weakening second degree
amendment to the Dodd-Shelby amendment to eliminate the requirement for
parental consent before extraction of market research. This is what
corporate marketers want – to extract personal information from
schoolchildren whether or not parents like it, or even know about it.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
Please contact your U.S. Senators in support of the Dodd-Shelby
amendment. The Congressional switchboard phone is (202) 225-3121. To
find the local phone numbers and e-mail addresses of your U.S. Senators,
see <http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html>.
Please tell both your senators (politely) to:
1) Support the Dodd-Shelby amendment (SA 457) to protect the privacy of
schoolchildren; and,
2) Oppose the Hutchinson amendment (SA 582).
BACKGROUND:
For more information about the use of the schools to extract market
research from unsuspecting children, see Commercial Alert's web pages
on:
* the ZapMe! Corp: <http://www.commercialalert.org/zapme/index.html>
* N2H2 Inc.: <http://www.commercialalert.org/n2h2/index.html>
* Noggin: <http://www.commercialalert.org/releases/nogginrel.html>
MORE BACKGROUND:
Following is the text of the Dodd-Shelby amendment.
SA 457. Mr. DODD (for himself and Mr. SHELBY) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1, to extend programs and
activities under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
On page 778, after line 21, add the following:
``PART C--INCREASING PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND PROTECTING STUDENT
PRIVACY
``SEC. 6301. INTENT.
``It is the purpose of this part to provide parents with notice of
and opportunity to make informed decisions regarding commercial
activities occurring in their
children's classrooms.
``SEC. 6302. COMMERCIALIZATION POLICIES AND PRIVACY FOR STUDENTS.
``(a) POLICY DEVELOPMENT.--A State educational agency or local
educational agency that receives funds under this Act shall develop a
policy regarding in-school commercialization activities in consultation
with parents and provide notice to parents regarding such policy and any
changes to such policy, including locally developed exceptions under
subsection (e).
``(b) FUNDING PROHIBITION.--Except as provided in subsection (c), no
State educational agency or local educational agency that receives funds
under this Act may--
``(1) disclose data or information the agency gathered from a
student to a person or entity that seeks disclosure of the data or
information for the purpose of benefiting the person or entity's
commercial interests; or
``(2) permit by contract a person or entity to gather from a
student, or assist a person or entity in gathering from a student, data
or information, if the purpose of gathering the data or information is
to benefit the commercial interests of the person or entity.
``(c) PARENTAL CONSENT.--
``(1) DISCLOSURE.--A State educational agency or local educational
agency that is a recipient of funds under this Act may disclose data or
information under subsection (b)(1) if the agency, prior to the
disclosure–
``(A) explains to the student's parent, in writing, what data or
information will be disclosed, to which person or entity the data or
information will be disclosed, the amount of class time, if any, that
will be consumed by the disclosure, and how the person or entity will
use the data or information; and
``(B) obtains the parent's written permission for the disclosure.
``(2) GATHERING.--A State educational agency or local educational
agency that is a recipient of funds under this Act may permit by
contract, or assist, the gathering of data or information under
subsection (b)(2) if the agency, prior to the gathering--
``(A) explains to the student's parent, in writing, what data or
information will be gathered including whether any of the information is
personally identifiable, which person or entity will gather the data or
information, the amount of class time if any, that will be consumed by
the gathering, and how the person or entity will use the data or
information; and
``(B) obtains the parent's written permission for the gathering.
``(d) DEFINITIONS.--In this part:
``(1) STUDENT.--The term `student' means a student under the age of
18.
``(2) COMMERCIAL INTEREST.--The term `commercial interest' does not
include the interest of a person or entity in gathering data or
information from a student for the purpose of developing, evaluating, or
providing educational products or services for or to students or
educational institutions, such as--
``(A) college and other post-secondary education recruiting;
``(B) book clubs and other programs providing access to low cost
books or other related literary products;
``(C) curriculum and instructional materials used by elementary and
secondary schools to teach if--
``(i) the information is not used to sell or advertise another
product, or to develop another product that is not covered by the
exemption from commercial interest in this paragraph; and
``(ii) the curriculum and instructional materials are used in
accordance with applicable Federal, State, and local policies, if any;
and
``(D) the development and administration of tests and assessments
used by elementary and secondary schools to provide cognitive,
evaluative, diagnostic, clinical, aptitude, or achievement information
about students (or to generate other statistically useful data for the
purpose of securing such tests and assessments) and the subsequent
analysis and public release of aggregate data if--
``(i) the information is not used to sell or advertise another
product, or to develop another product that is not covered by the
exemption from commercial interest in this paragraph; and
``(ii) the tests are conducted in accordance with applicable
Federal, State, and local policies, if any.
``(e) LOCALLY DEVELOPED EXCEPTIONS.--A local educational agency, in
consultation with parents, may develop appropriate exceptions to the
consent requirements contained in this part.
``(f) FUNDING.--A State educational agency or local educational
agency may use funds provided under part A of title VI to enhance
parental involvement in areas affecting children's in-school privacy.
``(g) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.--Upon the request of a State educational
agency or local educational agency, the Secretary shall provide
technical assistance to such an agency concerning compliance with this
part.
``(h) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to supersede the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20
U.S.C. 1232g).''.
<-------Dodd-Shelby amendment text ends here------->
Following is the text of the Hutchinson amendment.
SA 582. Mr. HUTCHINSON submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 457 submitted by Mr. DODD and intended to be proposed to
the bill (S. 1) to extend programs and activities under the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965; which was ordered to lie on the
table; as follows:
In lieu of the matter proposed, insert the following:
SEC. __. GUIDELINES FOR STUDENT PRIVACY.
(a) DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT PRIVACY GUIDELINES.--A State or local
educational agency that receives funds under this Act shall develop and
adopt guidelines regarding arrangements to protect student privacy that
are entered into by the agency with public and private entities that are
not schools.
(b) NOTIFICATION OF PARENTS OF PRIVACY GUIDELINES.--The guidelines
developed by an educational agency under subsection (a) shall provide
for a reasonable notice of the adoption of such guidelines to be given,
by the agency or a school under the agency's supervision, to the parents
and guardians of students under the jurisdiction of such agency or
school. Such notice shall be provided at least annually and within a
reasonable period of time after any change in such guidelines.
(c) EXCEPTIONS.--This section shall not apply to the development,
evaluation, or provision of educational products or services for or to
students or educational institutions, such as the following:
(1) College or other post-secondary education recruitment or for
military recruiting purposes.
(2) Book clubs, magazines, and programs providing access to other
literary products.
(3) Curriculum and instructional materials used by elementary and
secondary schools to teach.
(4) The development and administration of tests and assessments used
by elementary and secondary schools to provide cognitive, evaluative,
diagnostic, clinical, aptitude, or achievement information about
students (or to generate other statistically useful data for the purpose
of securing such tests and assessments) and the subsequent analysis and
public release of aggregate data.
(5) The sale by students of products or services to raise funds for
school- or education-related activities.
(6) Student recognition programs.
(d) INFORMATION ACTIVITIES BY THE SECRETARY.--Once each year, the
Secretary shall inform each State educational agency and each local
educational agency of the educational agency's obligations under section
438 of the General Education Provisions Act (added by the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974; 20 U.S.C. 1232g) and the
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (15 U.S.C. 6501 et
seq.).
(e) DEFINITIONS.--In this section, the terms ``elementary school'',
``local educational agency'', ``secondary school'', ``Secretary'', and
``State educational
agency'' have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
<----Hutchinson amendment ends here----->
Ralph Nader founded Commercial Alert in 1998 to keep the commercial
culture within its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting
children and subverting the higher values of family, community,
environmental integrity and democracy.
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--
Gary Ruskin | gary@essential.org
Commercial Alert | Congressional Accountability Project
http://www.commercialalert.org | http://www.congressproject.org
phone: 202.296.2787 or 503.295.6916