U.S. President Barack Obama is expected on Monday to propose new data security and privacy laws that will require companies to disclose when they suffer data breaches and prevent e-education firms from collecting information about students.
According to a New York Times report at the weekend, under the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act, when a company discovers it has been hacked, it will have a 30-day period in which to inform its customers.
A White House briefing document cited in the report said that the legislation is designed to engender trust in online services and technology following several high-profile breaches, including most recently at Sony.
Meanwhile, the Student Data Privacy Act proposes to block education technology providers from collecting information about students for the purposes of advertising or marketing. The NYT report said the law aims to alleviate concerns that said companies could harvest and share sensitive information – such as a child’s disciplinary record or their parent’s financial status.
The proposal comes at a time when educational material including lesson notes, textbooks and homework assignments are increasingly accessed online.
