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Georgia and Maryland Enact Student Privacy Laws
Practical Law Legal Update 5-614-0266 (Approx. 3 pages)
Georgia and Maryland Enact Student Privacy Laws
by Practical Law Intellectual Property & Technology
| Published on 20 May 2015 • Georgia, Maryland |
Georgia and Maryland have enacted laws protecting student privacy.
On May 6, 2015, Georgia Governor, Nathan Deal, signed S.B. 89 enacting the Student Data Privacy, Accessibility, and Transparency Act. The Georgia Act protects the privacy of K-12 students' personally identifiable information. In addition to providing for comprehensive administrative measures to protect student information, the Georgia Act contains provisions similar to California's recently adopted Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA) relating to website and mobile application operators that market their products for use for K-12 education purposes (see Legal Update, California Enacts Law Protecting Student Privacy and Amends Data Breach Statute). Among other things, the Georgia Act:
- Prohibits the unnecessary collection of data that does not belong in a student's education record.
- Provides parents the right to view and receive copies of their children's records.
- Restricts the use and disclosure of student personal information by website and mobile service providers and requires them to use appropriate security measures to protect student information.
The privacy provisions of the Georgia Act go into effect July 1, 2016.
On May 12, 2015, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed H.B. 298, enacting the Student Data Privacy Act of 2015. The Maryland Act is directed to website and mobile application operators and is also similar to SOPIPA. The Maryland Act goes into effect on July 1, 2015.