QuestionQ235

Federal Privacy Laws

A technology company develops an application (the “app”) that gathers personal data from high school athletes who are scholarship prospects for various colleges and sports. The app is a social-media-type application in which athletes can post comments, videos, and other content. Coaches can post athletes’ statistics for colleges to use for scouting purposes. In the app’s settings, athletes may choose whether to provide their contact information, as well as information such as their place of birth, school GPA, dates of attendance, and any honors or awards they have earned. All information entered into the app by an athlete or coach is publicly available.

Why would the athletes’ personal information in the app not be protected under FERPA?

  • A The athletes are sharing their information voluntarily
  • B The app is not managed by a federally funded school
  • C The app's primary purpose is athletic recruitment not education
  • D The law m question only applies to paper records, not digital ones
Explanation

FERPA applies to education records maintained by educational agencies or institutions that receive U.S. Department of Education program funds, including records maintained by a party acting for such an agency or institution. An independently operated technology-company app is not covered merely because it contains student information; it would need to be managed by, or act on behalf of, a covered school or educational agency.

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