Interesting Policy Reads: An Expensive Online Textbook, VR for Online Students, and NIST’s Privacy Framework Development

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. This post includes articles on a $999 online textbook, Democrat opposition to SCOTUS Nominee Brett Kavanaugh's Net Neutrality stance, the availability of VR headsets for students enrolled in an online course, and California's net neutrality legislation.

• Outrage Over University's $999 Online Textbook, Inside Higher Ed, August 28, 2018. (Students were angered by the high price of an online textbook at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette – a price the institution claims to have set to discourage the use of the online version.)
• Hill Dems Blast Kavanaugh over Net Neutrality Stance, Broadcasting and Cable, August 27, 2018. (President Trump's Supreme Court Nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has previously argued that the Obama-era net neutrality rules were illegal, causing heartburn for some Democratic lawmakers.)
• The University Where Student Loans Can Pay for Tuition, Books—and a Virtual Reality Headset, The Washington Post, August 27, 2018. (Online students enrolled in biology courses at Arizona State University are now given the option to use virtual reality headsets to complete associated lab requirements.)
• NIST's Next Framework Focuses on Protecting Consumers' Privacy, Nextgov, September 4, 2018. (The National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] is in the process of soliciting public feedback in its effort to develop a voluntary privacy framework to work toward "a common language about privacy controls" for companies and privacy professionals.)
• Chamber of Commerce Calls for Congress to Block State Privacy Laws, The Hill, September 6, 2018. (The US Chamber of Commerce released a set of privacy principles in a call to Congress for a federal privacy standard that would prevent a patchwork of individual state laws.)
• Lawmakers Urge California's Governor to Sign S.B. 822, Enacting the Nation's Strongest Net Neutrality Law, Gizmodo, September 6, 2018. (California has passed its own net neutrality rules legislation—and the bill now awaits the governor's signature.)

Kathryn Branson is an associate with Ulman Public Policy.