Interesting Policy Reads: Net Neutrality Ruling, OER Data, and OPM Transparency

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.

• From Textbook Rentals to Education Power, Inside Higher Ed, September 11, 2019. (Chegg, a textbook rental and online tutoring and test-preparation company, has acquired the online coding school Thinkful—marking its first foray into the educational provider space.)
• Google Blocks Privacy Push at the Group That Sets Web Standards, Bloomberg, September 23, 2019. (Google objected to, and effectively blocked, a World Wide Web Consortium [W3C] proposed change that would have given W3C's Privacy Interest Group enhanced authority to block projects it felt undermined user privacy.)
• Will Transparency Ward Off Regulation? Inside Higher Ed, September 12, 2019. (As online program management companies continue to face scrutiny from policymakers, regulators, and investors, 2U, the industry's largest player, plans to produce annual reports outlining the company's operations.)
• US Alleges Visa Fraud Scheme Targeting American Research [https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bc-us--china-visa-fraud-20190916-story.html], Chicago Tribune, September 19, 2019. (The US Department of Justice charged a Chinese government employee in federal court with one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud, alleging that Zhongsan Liu conspired to get visas for Chinese government employees under the pretense that the employees were research scholars.)
• A Nevada Law That Fines Companies for Selling Private Data Is About to Go into Effect, Gizmodo, September 23, 2019. (Nevada's scaled-back version of the California Consumer Privacy Act, which, among other things, allows consumers to opt out of having their personal information resold by online businesses, went into effect October 1.)
• OER Embraced, Inside Higher Ed, September 19, 2019. (Early data around a grant program for institutions to move all course materials to open educational resources suggests the program is resulting in improved student outcomes, but the data may lack some experimental controls.)
• Group Behind California Privacy Law Aims to Strengthen It, The New York Times, September 24, 2019. (Californians for Consumer Privacy announced plans to amend the California Consumer Privacy Act via a ballot initiative next year. The proposal would bolster protections afforded to the state's residents.)
• Where the Net Neutrality Fight Goes Next, Axios, October 2, 2019. (A mixed court decision has upheld many parts of the FCC's repeal of Obama-era net neutrality rules but overturned the commission's attempt to prevent states from implementing rules of their own.)

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Kathryn Branson is an Associate with Ulman Public Policy.