Franchising a Student Digital Privacy Law

I was skeptical when James P. Steyer, the chief executive of Common Sense Media, a children’s advocacy and media ratings group in San Francisco (CA), called me in the fall of 2013 to announce that he was going to have a law passed in California to restrict how education technology companies use student data. Steyer was not just worried about possible commercial exploitation of student data, he said. He also foresaw that parents’ mounting privacy concerns could scuttle the adoption of education technology in schools -- a cause he and his group have championed.

“I said, ‘Holy Toledo, this is a mess waiting to happen,’ ” Steyer recalled during a conversation in Washington. “I said, ‘There’s a huge issue around student data and student privacy. We’ll draft a law.’ ” And so it came to pass. Last September, Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signed the bill -- titled the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act -- that Steyer originally envisioned. Common Sense Media is planning a more ambitious national effort that includes promulgating student privacy laws this year in about a dozen states, among them New Hampshire. The strategy his group used in California provides a window into its coming campaign. During the week of April 27, Reps Jared Polis (D-CO) and Luke Messer (R-IN) are expected to introduce a federal student digital privacy bill, modeled in part on the California statute.