A Stitch in Haste

Back in November I blogged about a federal proposal to create a vast new database of all college student academic records, nominally to track school success, curriculum popularity, etc.

Well, the proposal is back in the news:

A feasibility study released this month by the [Education] department's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) states that the center can handle the technological and privacy challenges of such a database, but adds that it would impose additional costs on colleges to update their administrative systems.

The proposed tracking system would require a centralized database and secure off-line storage to manage millions of student records initially, along with millions of new records that would be added each year.
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The proposed database would provide individually identifiable student information, including names, Social Security numbers, number of courses taken and credits earned, degrees completed, and actual education costs.

The study acknowledges the privacy concerns that already have been raised. But it states that NCES operates under legislation that makes it a Class E felony to violate data confidentiality rules. The study also states that no cases have occurred in which confidential data collected by NCES has been wrongfully disclosed.

As I blogged back in November:

As I recall, you have the "ability" (or is it a de facto requirement?) to opt out of education privacy protections when applying to college or graduate school. Will "optional" NCES waivers permitting the disclosure of one's educational data to, say, prospective employers, be as inconceivable as the bureaucrats claim? As with all bureaucratic promises, I'm skeptical.
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And what lessons does comprehensive data gathering send to impressionable young college minds about the proper scope of government and their rights in a supposedly "free" society?

Hat tip to PrivacySpot.

Related Post:
Feds Propose Vast College Student Database