HF 2370

as introduced - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 05/18/2015 10:48am

A bill for an act
relating to privacy; establishing student user privacy in education rights; requiring
online educational services to comply with security and privacy standards;
prohibiting use of student information for targeted marketing or creation of
student profiles; amending Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 13.321, by adding a
subdivision; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 125B.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 13.321, is amended by adding a
subdivision to read:

new text begin Subd. 11. new text end

new text begin Student-user privacy requirements. new text end

new text begin Section 125B.27 governs privacy
and information practices of online educational services.
new text end

Sec. 2.

new text begin [125B.27] STUDENT-USER PRIVACY IN EDUCATION RIGHTS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) The definitions in section 13.32, subdivision 1,
and this subdivision apply to this section.
new text end

new text begin (b) "Online educational service" means an Internet Web site, online service or
application, or mobile application that a student, or the student's parent or legal guardian,
can access via the Internet for school purposes. Online educational service includes a
cloud computing service.
new text end

new text begin (c) "Operator" means a person who operates an online educational service with
actual knowledge that it is used primarily for school purposes and was designed and
marketed for these purposes. Operator includes a vendor.
new text end

new text begin (d) "Protected information" means educational data, or other personally identifiable
information or materials in any media or format that:
new text end

new text begin (1) is created or provided by a student, or the student's parent or legal guardian, to an
operator in the course of the use of the operator's site, service, or application for school
purposes;
new text end

new text begin (2) is created or provided by an employee or agent of the school to an operator; or
new text end

new text begin (3) is gathered by an operator through the operation of an online educational
service and is descriptive of a student or otherwise identifies a student, including
information in the student's educational record or e-mail, first and last name, home
address, telephone number, e-mail address, or other information that allows physical or
online contact, discipline records, test results, special education data, juvenile records,
grades, evaluations, criminal records, health records, Social Security number, biometric
information, disabilities, socioeconomic information, food purchases, political affiliations,
religious information, text messages, documents, student identifiers, search activity,
photos, voice recordings, or geolocation information.
new text end

new text begin (e) "School purposes" means purposes that (1) customarily take place at the
direction of the school, teacher, or school district or aid in the administration of school
activities, including instruction in the classroom or at home, administrative activities, and
collaboration between students, school personnel, or parents or legal guardians, or (2)
are for the use and benefit of the school.
new text end

new text begin (f) "Student" means a student in prekindergarten through grade 12.
new text end

new text begin (g) "Vendor" means a person who enters into a contract with a school to provide an
online educational service.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Prohibited activities; targeted advertising; creation of student profiles;
sale or unauthorized disclosure of information. new text end

new text begin (a) An operator must not knowingly
engage in any of the following activities with respect to the operator's site, service,
or application:
new text end

new text begin (1)(i) targeted advertising on the operator's site, service, or application; or
new text end

new text begin (ii) targeted advertising on any other site, service, or application when the targeting
of the advertising is based upon information, including protected information and unique
identifiers, that the operator has acquired or created because of the use of that operator's
site, service, or application;
new text end

new text begin (2) use or share information, including unique identifiers, acquired or created by
the operator's site, service, or application, to create a profile about a student, except in
furtherance of school purposes;
new text end

new text begin (3) sell a student's information, including protected information. This prohibition
does not apply to the purchase, merger, or other type of acquisition of an operator by
another person, provided that the operator or successor continues to be subject to this
section with respect to previously acquired student information; or
new text end

new text begin (4) disclose protected information, unless the disclosure:
new text end

new text begin (i) is made in furtherance of the purpose of the site, service, or application, provided
the recipient of the protected information must not further disclose the information unless
done to allow or improve operability and functionality within that student's classroom
or school;
new text end

new text begin (ii) is legally required to comply with subdivision 3;
new text end

new text begin (iii) is made to ensure legal and regulatory compliance, to respond to or participate
in judicial process, or to protect the safety of users or others or security of the site; or
new text end

new text begin (iv) is made pursuant to a contract between the operator and a service provider. A
contract must prohibit the service provider from using protected information for any
purpose other than providing the contracted service to, or on behalf of, the operator;
prohibit the service provider from disclosing protected information provided by the
operator to third parties; and require the service provider to implement and maintain
reasonable security procedures and practices as provided in subdivision 3.
new text end

new text begin (b) This subdivision does not prohibit the operator's use of information for
maintaining, developing, supporting, improving, or diagnosing the operator's site, service,
or application.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Security procedures and practices. new text end

new text begin An operator shall:
new text end

new text begin (1) implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate
to the nature of the protected information and protect that information from unauthorized
access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure; and
new text end

new text begin (2) delete a student's protected information if the school requests deletion of data
under the control of the school.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Permissible disclosures. new text end

new text begin Notwithstanding subdivision 2, paragraph
(a), clause (4), an operator may disclose protected information of a student under the
following circumstances:
new text end

new text begin (1) if other provisions of federal or state law require the operator to disclose the
information and the operator complies with the requirements of federal or state law in
protecting and disclosing that information;
new text end

new text begin (2) for legitimate research purposes:
new text end

new text begin (i) as required by state or federal law and subject to the restrictions under applicable
law; or
new text end

new text begin (ii) as allowed by state or federal law and under the direction of a school, school
district, or the Department of Education, provided that protected information is not used
for any purpose in furtherance of advertising or to amass a profile on the student for
purposes other than school purposes; and
new text end

new text begin (3) to a state or local educational agency, including schools and school districts, for
school purposes as permitted by state or federal law.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Use of information by operator. new text end

new text begin (a) This section does not prohibit an
operator from using information that does not identify a student as follows:
new text end

new text begin (1) within the operator's site, service, or application or other sites, services, or
applications owned by the operator to improve educational products; or
new text end

new text begin (2) to demonstrate the effectiveness of the operator's products or services, including
marketing.
new text end

new text begin (b) This section does not prohibit an operator from sharing information that does not
identify a student for the development and improvement of educational sites, services,
or applications.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 6. new text end

new text begin Certain activities not affected. new text end

new text begin (a) This section does not limit the
authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain information from an operator as
authorized by law or pursuant to a court order.
new text end

new text begin (b) This section does not limit the ability of an operator to use student information,
including protected information, for adaptive learning or customized student learning
purposes.
new text end

new text begin (c) This section does not apply to general audience Internet Web sites, general
audience online services, general audience online applications, or general audience mobile
applications, even if login credentials created for an operator's online educational service
may be used to access those general audience sites, services, or applications.
new text end

new text begin (d) This section does not limit Internet service providers from providing Internet
connectivity to schools or students and their families.
new text end

new text begin (e) This section does not prohibit an operator of an Internet Web site, online
service, online application, or mobile application from marketing educational products
directly to parents or legal guardians so long as the marketing did not result from the
use of protected information obtained by the operator through the provision of services
governed by this section.
new text end

new text begin (f) This section does not impose a duty upon a provider of an electronic store, gateway,
marketplace, or other means of purchasing or downloading software or applications to
review or enforce compliance with this section on those applications or software.
new text end

new text begin (g) This section does not impose a duty upon a provider of an interactive computer
service, as defined in United States Code, title 47, section 230, to review or enforce
compliance with this section by third-party content providers.
new text end

new text begin (h) This section does not impede the ability of students to download, export, or
otherwise save or maintain their own data or documents.
new text end