Whats is Data Privacy

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What Is Data Privacy?

Some of the common conceptions of data privacy include...
• Data privacy as a fundamental right. Individual privacy rights are recognized in
the US Constitution, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and in over 80
countries around the world. Privacy rights also provide the foundation for other
important rights, including self-determination and free expression.
• Data privacy includes a person’s control over how their personal information
“flows” between them and any third parties (how it is used and shared).
• Data privacy is subjective, as each person has unique privacy preferences and
expectations. What feels invasive or creepy to one person may be innovative or
cool to another. Many factors influence these preferences and expectations,
including a person’s familiarity with the entity or person collecting their data,
whether a person is from a marginalized community whose data has been used
in inequitable ways, their cultural background, and their trust in data-holding
organizations.
• Data privacy is contextual. Whether it is appropriate to use or share personal
data in a particular manner depends on ever-evolving social and ethical norms
and on legal frameworks. To ensure that people understand an education
agency’s or institution’s community norms about data use, the agency or
institution must communicate and engage directly with their community
members.
Establishing and maintaining privacy, whether by being left alone or avoiding being
watched, was relatively straightforward before the advent of digital technologies. Today,
technologies such as smartphones, which people carry in their pockets, and the
trackers that load invisibly online whenever people open a web page can make it feel
like privacy no longer exists.
With the introduction of these technologies and their unprecedented ability to collect and
use data, stakeholders have talked about the word “privacy” as a form of fairness and
power. The more information that one person or organization has about another, the
more that party may influence or exert power over the other. Data privacy protections
help individuals and communities maintain their autonomy and freedom when their
governments and other organizations use their information. For example, institutions,
such as governments and companies, harvest and retain massive data sets on their
citizens and users. This data is often collected from individuals without their knowledge
or informed consent and can be used for purposes over which they have little to no
control. In this context, data privacy helps to establish agreed-upon protections to affirm
fairness, including the creation of transparent policies and practices that help correct
power imbalances among the individual, the technology, and the institution.
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What Is Student Data Privacy?

Privacy, as a central component of fairness, often comes up in the educational context.
Student data privacy refers to the responsible, ethical, and equitable collection, use,
sharing, and protection of student data. Why is it so important to protect student data?
Any type of data collection, use, or sharing entails potential short- and long-term risks.
Because students—especially younger children—are not fully equipped to weigh the
potential benefits and risks of data collection and use, they require special privacy
protections. They are also at risk for more acute harms, such as opportunity loss, that
may not fully emerge until later in life. Data privacy protections can support students’
success and give them agency over their information and education.
There are a few misconceptions about data privacy. First, seeking to protect data
privacy does not mean preventing all others from learning information about an
individual. On the contrary, data privacy is about creating conditions in which individuals
will share their personal information because they trust that others will protect it. This is
particularly important in the educational context, in which students rarely have a choice
about whether to share their personal information with their educational institution.
In addition, while data privacy and data security are closely related, a perfectly secure
data system may still violate individual privacy if authorized users acting within an
organization’s or system’s normal capabilities collect or use personal data in covert,
unexpected, inappropriate, or inequitable ways.
Finally, student data privacy is not just another item to be checked off a list to ensure
legal compliance or a bureaucratic barrier to helping students excel in the classroom.
Rather, data privacy is integral to data use that informs priorities and supports students
in an ethical and equitable manner. School and district leaders should remember that,
while student data can be immensely valuable to help improve teaching and learning,
the misuse or unauthorized disclosure of student data can also put students and their
families at risk.
What Are Student Data Privacy Risks and Harms?

When proper student data privacy protections are not in place, schools and districts
face significant risks to their students, their schools, or districts. These risks fall into
three main categories:
• Actual Harm: Students may suffer physical, emotional, or reputational harm due
to unauthorized access to their personal information.
• Legal Consequences: Schools and districts may face fines, lawsuits, or even
imprisonment for their failure to comply with federal and state student privacy
laws.
• Public Relations Disaster: Even if schools and districts avoid data breaches and
comply with legal requirements, the perception of unethical or irresponsible

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practices due to misinformation or lack of communication can result in a public

relations disaster.
Actual harms to students can be further categorized into eight types:

• Commercialization: Companies may access and use student data to target
advertisements to students and build student profiles.
• Equity Concerns: Students have varying access to devices or internet service,
which has implications for the levels of safeguards in place and monitoring that
occurs.
• Social Harm: Revealing personal and sensitive student information can result in
stigmatization and cyberbullying.
• Over-Surveillance: Over-collection and monitoring of student data and online
activity can have chilling effects, such as discouraging students’ interest in
learning or taking healthy risks.
• A Permanent Record: This regards how long institutions retain records of events,
specifically mistakes, potentially tethering students to their past in limiting or
harmful ways.
• Loss of Opportunity: Student data can be used to make decisions about students
that can result in denials of opportunity.
• Age-Inappropriate Content: Students may access inappropriate websites and
online content.
• Safety: Personal or otherwise sensitive information may be revealed that could
endanger students’ safety.
Bailey, Karsen. “Student Privacy Primer.” Student Privacy Compass, 5 Oct. 2021,
https://studentprivacycompass.org/resource/student-privacy-primer/.

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What Is Data Privacy?

Last Modified 10/21 Page 1 of 3

What Is Student Data Privacy?

What Are Student Data Privacy Risks and Harms?

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practices due to misinformation or lack of communication can result in a public

Actual harms to students can be further categorized into eight types:

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