This post includes articles on a student-designed class registration bot that ultimately backfired, the latest in conversations around federal privacy legislation and associated activity at the state level, and a recently released report critical of online education programs.
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.
- A Class Registration Bot Backfires, Inside Higher Ed, January 15, 2019. (A student-designed computer program intended to assist in class registration backfired when it effectively removed the individual from their courses of choice.)
- Democrats aren't buying a proposal for big tech to write its own privacy rules, The Verge, January 14, 2019. (A new data-privacy proposal would not only preempt state privacy laws but also repeal HIPAA and FERPA, much to the chagrin of Democratic lawmakers.)
- Rubio debuts alternative privacy bill, Axios, January 16, 2019. (Senator Marco Rubio [R-FL] has introduced privacy legislation that would direct the FTC to recommend to Congress national privacy rules for tech companies.)
- FCC Seeks Postponement of Net Neutrality Oral Argument, Multichannel News, January 15, 2018. (Due to the government shutdown, the FCC has asked the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to postpone scheduled oral arguments in a closely watched lawsuit over net neutrality rules.)
- Takedown of Online Education, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2019. (A new report is critical of online education programs, asserting that they do not produce a positive return on investment; however, the report concedes that regular student-instructor interaction can increase program quality.)
- Top Judiciary Republican sees potential for bipartisan agreement on cyber issues, The Hill, January 17, 2019. (The new ranking member for the House Judiciary Committee named data privacy among those issues he sees as ripe for bipartisan collaboration.)
- Google Fined $57 Million in Biggest Penalty Yet Under New European Law, Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2018. (A French regulator is assessing a $56.8 million fine on Google under the EU's GDPR, asserting the company did not obtain consent for collecting user data.)
- A Surge of States Take on Data Privacy as Congress Stalls, The Information, January 22, 2019. (In the absence of federal action, lawmakers in states including Washington have introduced their own data-privacy measures.)
Kathryn Branson is an associate with Ulman Public Policy.
© 2019 Kathryn Branson. The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License.