PrivacySpot.com - Privacy Law and Data Protection - nothing but privacyWelcome to Privacy Spot, a privacy law blog sponsored by Hughes & Luce, LLP. Privacy Spot provides news, commentary and resources related to current privacy law and data protection topics and issues.Testing the Boundaries of FERPA- August 7, 2007 Citing the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Houston Independent School District has refused a request for baseball statistics it gathers during publicly attended baseball games. FERPA prohibits a federally funded educational institution from allowing the disclosure of students' educational records without each student's parent's consent. A straight reading of the statute suggests that any student information regularly maintained by the school qualifies as education...http://privacyspot.com/?q=node/view/799 New Laws Introduced to Protect SSNs, Reduce ID Theft- August 6, 2007 Sources are reporting that an SSN protection bill has been proposed in the House. The bill would attempt to limit the use of SSNs by government and private entities. New criminal and civil penalties, including prison time, are included in the bill along with higher penalties for repeat offenders. Law enforcement and emergency services exceptions are granted, but the government will be prevented from using SSNs on checks, Medicare cards and government ID cards. See the related stories here..http://privacyspot.com/?q=node/view/797 Stop Reading my Email!- August 6, 2007 A Sixth Circuit panel recently held that users have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content of their email, even where the ISP has a contractual right to look at the emails. Unless the user policy provides for monitoring, inspecting or auditing of the account, "there is a societal expectation that the ISP or the phone company will not read the contents as a matter of course." The court, influenced by amici, analogized to telephone calls and letters, where the provider of..http://privacyspot.com/?q=node/view/793 No Expectation of Privacy in IP Addresses, tofrom Addresses of Emails- August 6, 2007 The government can legally obtain IP addresses of websites a person has visited and tofrom addresses from a person's emails without a warrant according to a new Ninth Circuit ruling. The case, United States v. Forrester, is the first to hold that unlike the content of those communications, the header information does not violate a reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment.http://privacyspot.com/?q=node/view/796 |