President Obama Endorses Student Privacy Pledge, Microsoft Was One Of The First Companies To Sign The Pledge

President Obama yesterday spoke at the Federal Trade Commission on privacy protections for consumers. He also discussed about the expanded role and benefits of technology in the classroom and the accompanying need for greater privacy protections for student data. He endorsed the “K-12 School Service Provider Pledge to Safeguard Student Privacy,” a framework created by the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIAA) that would establish minimum standards for the maintenance, collection and use of student data. Microsoft became one of the first companies to sign the pledge.

Our company has long been committed to bringing the benefits of technology and personalized learning to schools while protecting the privacy and security of our customers’ information, particularly when they are students.  Signing the pledge reaffirmed our commitment to parents, students, and educators. We hope the president’s positive reference to the pledge helps demonstrate the need for industry to better address student data privacy issues.

The commitments are intended to detail ongoing industry practices that meet and go beyond all federal requirements and to encourage service providers to more clearly articulate these practices.

The Pledge will hold school service providers accountable to:

• Not sell student information
• Not behaviorally target adverting
• Use data for authorized education purposes only
• Not change privacy policies without notice and choice
• Enforce strict limits on data retention
• Support parental access to, and correction of errors in, their children’s information
• Provide comprehensive security standards
• Be transparent about collection and use of data.

Read more about it here.