Congressman Jared Polis , a Boulder Democrat, speaks at an economic summit event. (Cliff Grassmick )
WASHINGTON — Students from kindergarten to high school would get broad new protections for their digital information under a bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, and Luke Messer, R-Ind.
The measure, which has been in the works for months, seeks to address growing concerns by parents about the use of technology in U.S. schools and the amount of data collected by education companies.
President Barack Obama in January and the Polis-Messer bill would prohibit the sale of a student’s data to third parties, force tech companies to disclose the data they are collecting and grant new enforcement powers to the Federal Trade Commission.
“The status quo surrounding the protection of our student’s data is entirely unacceptable,” Polis said in a statement. “It’s like the wild wild West — there are few regulations protecting student’s privacy and parental rights, and the ones that do exist were written in an age before smartphones and tablets.”
The bill’s introduction hasn’t been all smooth.
Polis and Messer were set to drop the measure a month ago but from parents and privacy advocates compelled the lawmakers to rewrite some sections.
Polis said in a press call that one major change was that tech companies now would be required to tell parents about the type of student information that could be disclosed.
But Polis, who made a fortune in the online world before coming to Congress, said it was critical that the new rules are not too restrictive, as there could be “immense positive benefits” to data collection in schools.
The measure would allow companies to use the information they gather in schools to tweak and improve their own products.
