PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

high-tech technology background with eyes on computer display

Education Privacy in Peril

Education Privacy

I have been spending a lot of time examining education privacy lately, and there are some very troubling things going on in this field.   At a general level, schools lack much sophistication in how they handle privacy issues.  Other industry sectors that handle sensitive personal data have Chief Privacy Officers and a comprehensive privacy program.  […]

Off-Campus Cyberbullying and the First Amendment

Cyberbullying

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently upheld a school’s discipline of a student for engaging in off-campus cyberbullying of another student.  In Kowalski v. Berkeley County Schools, — F.3d — (4th Cir. July 27, 2011), a student (Kara Kowalski) created a MySpace profile called “S.A.S.H.,” which she said was short for […]

When Can Public Schools Discipline Students for Off-Campus Speech?

Bull Horn 01

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately focusing on privacy issues at schools.  I find these issues fascinating, and I have been working on them in the trenches, as I created a company last year to provide tools and resources to schools to help them better address privacy problems and to develop a comprehensive […]

Facebook, Myspace, and College Admissions

College Admissions and Social Media Profiles

Last year, I noted that employers and others were increasingly looking at applicants’ social network website profile pages in their hiring decisions. Apparently, now college admissions officers are also using social network sites like Facebook and MySpace to make decisions on applicants. According to the Wall St. Journal:

Freakonomics, The Apprentice, Student Grades, and Privacy

Freakonomics Apprentice Privacy

The ending of this season’s The Apprentice (with Donald Trump) has everybody talking. Rebecca Jarvis and Randal Pinkett were the finalists, both of whom Trump thought were outstanding stars. He hired Randal and later asked Randal whether he should also hire Rebecca. Randal said “no” because “there can be only one Apprentice” and the show is called […]