The United States Supreme Court recently announced that it will hear a case on whether an individual can sue a college for violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law designed to protect the privacy of a student's educational records. The case puts Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, against Ru Paster, an education graduate who claims he is unable...

In conjunction with the US Federal Trade Commission's Public Workshop on Consumer Information Privacy held June 10-13, 1997, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has released this short report, based on its review of "100 of the most frequently visited web sites on the Internet." The report discusses the collection of personal information, privacy policies, and browser cookie use at...

Released on May 16, 2000, by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, this report finds that many younger users are willing to divulge private information about their families in exchange for free gifts. Based on a survey of 1,000 parents and children with online access at home, the report reveals that 45 percent of ten- to seventeen-year-olds, as opposed to 29 percent...

As US Congressman (R-Ga) and House Judiciary Committee member Bob Barr has pointed out, the latest US government surveillance project, the FBI's Carnivore, might have been largely overlooked by the public were it not for two factors: the choice on the part of the bureau to name the system "Carnivore" and EarthLink Inc.'s litigation over the placement of the packet-sniffer on its network. Be that...

Last week, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the first in a series of guidance materials on new federal privacy protections for medical records and other personal health information. These privacy provisions come under the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. From this HHS Office for Civil Rights page, readers can access the news release "HHS Issues...