Interesting Policy Reads: Robocall Bill Passage, State Privacy Law Proposals, and Net Neutrality Advocacy

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.

• FFTC: House Dems Seek Bipartisan Net Neutrality Bill, Multichannel, May 22, 2019. (Net neutrality activists at Fight for the Future have written a letter in opposition to compromise net neutrality legislation and in favor of the Save the Internet Act that has passed through the House but is unlikely to pass through the Senate.)
• Republicans and Democrats Are Learning How to Work Together on Tech Regulation, The Verge, May 23, 2019. (Legislators on both sides of the aisle are coming together to work on new bills that would help to regulate different areas of the tech world, even if they sometimes disagree on how to approach these issues.)
• Senate Passes Anti-robocall Bill, The Hill, May 23, 2019. (The Senate has passed a bill that would place heavy new fines on illegal robocalls, an issue that has been named as the top consumer complaint received by the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] and the Federal Communications Commission [FCC].)
• Competition for Employer Tuition Benefits, Inside Higher Ed, May 30, 2019. (Arizona State University's [ASU's] new spin-off, InStride, has joined the tuition benefits market and aims to help large companies manage tuition benefit programs while offering online credentials and courses from ASU Online to their employees.)
• New York Could Soon Pass Its Own GDPR-Inspired Data Security Law, Cyberscoop, May 29, 2019. (New York state lawmakers are predicted to approve a committee a bill that would update an existing data breach notification law to cover more personal information and force firms to disclose ransomware infections.)
• Online Is (Increasingly) Local, Inside Higher Ed, June 5, 2019. (Students enrolled in online classes for higher education are increasingly choosing to take these classes from local institutions rather than places farther away.)
• Maine Shakes Up Debate with Tough Internet Privacy Law, The Hill, June 11, 2019. (Maine has passed one of the toughest internet privacy laws, barring companies from using, selling, or distributing consumer data without consent.)
• Over 100 Activist Groups Urge McConnell to Take Up Net Neutrality Bill in the Senate, The Hill, June 10, 2019. (One hundred three public interest groups wrote a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky urging him to bring the Save the Internet Act to a vote in the Senate after the House overwhelmingly passed the bill earlier this year, but McConnell does not see the bill surviving the chamber.)
• The End of the Line for iTunes U? Inside Higher Ed, June 12, 2019. (Critics weighed in on the dismantling of iTunes and the effects this will have on iTunes U, a service originally created to connect free educational content from universities to iTunes store users.)
• Catholic Universities Collaborate on Online Program, Inside Higher Ed, June 12, 2019. (Catholic institutions Notre Dame de Namur University and Saint Leo University are working together to market Notre Dame de Namur's master's degree program in public administration, citing the collaboration as an effective way to grow the "Catholic values-based program.")
• Google's Growing IT Certificate, Inside Higher Ed, June 14, 2019. (Google launched its IT support certificate program in early 2018. Since launching the program, more than 8,000 people have completed it and 75,000 people have enrolled in it. The certificate program is aimed at creating an opportunity to carry diverse applicants into entry-level IT position jobs.)

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Kathryn Branson is an associate with Ulman Public Policy.