Interesting Policy Reads: An Online Campus Bookstore, Campus IT Budget Shortages, and an International Cybersecurity Pact

With our "Interesting Policy Reads" blog posts, the EDUCAUSE Policy Office highlights recent articles on federal policy issues and developments that are directly relevant to members or provide insights on higher education policy in general.

• Career Path Intervention—Via a MOOC, Inside Higher Ed, October 17, 2018. (A new Wesleyan University course offered on the Coursera platform seeks to assist students and graduates with career path choices.)
• Internet Provider Groups Sue Vermont Over Net Neutrality Law, Reuters, October 18, 2018. (Industry groups representing major internet providers and cable companies filed suit to block a Vermont law that precludes companies who do not abide by net neutrality rules from receiving state contracts.)
• Apple CEO Condemns ‘Data-Industrial Complex', Wall Street Journal, October 24, 2018. (Claiming that third parties have "weaponized" individuals' data and characterizing the practices of the online-advertising industry as "surveillance," Tim Cook called for a federal privacy law in the United States.)
• A Faculty Plea: Put Books Back in the Bookstore, Inside Higher Ed, October 24, 2018. (Faculty at Middlebury College are unhappy with the institution's decision to switch to an online-only textbook ordering system, noting the move has a "significant negative pedagogical impact.")
• Budget Woes Continue for Campus IT, Inside Higher Ed, October 31, 2018. (Surveyed institution IT leaders largely noted that their budgets have not recovered from recession-associated budget cuts, negatively impacting their ability to retain top talent and to meet an increased demand for IT security services.)
• Don't Panic About GDPR, Colleges Are Told, Inside Higher Ed, November 1, 2018. (At EDUCAUSE's annual conference, GDPR experts instructed institution IT personnel not to panic over the EU's privacy regulation but to carefully examine their existing data and security regulations as they begin their compliance journey.)
• LinkedIn Expands Its Learning Library, Inside Higher Ed, November 12, 2018. (LinkedIn Learning announced a series of features—including an expansion of its library of training content—that may indicate the company's continued foray into the education and training space.)
• More than 50 Nations, but Not U.S., Sign On to Cybersecurity Pact, Axios, November 12, 2018. (French President Emmanuel Macron released an international agreement on cybersecurity during the Paris Peace Forum that includes provisions promoting human rights on the internet and combating election hacking; whereas more than 50 nations have signed the pact, the United States has not.)
• Advocates Draw Battle Lines over National Privacy Law, The Hill, November 13, 2018. (Internet privacy advocate groups released a set of privacy principles which they'd like to see lawmakers draw from to formulate a national privacy law, but disagreements between these public-interest organizations and industry groups persist.)

Kathryn Branson is an associate with Ulman Public Policy.