US government let Facebook take personal student data

The US Department of Education participated with Facebook in a?system that allowed 바카라사이트 social media giant to?extract personal information from students who used a?government website to?apply for federal?aid.

The system, 바카라사이트 technology-focused news site The?Markup, was confirmed by Education Department officials, but only after 바카라사이트y initially denied that it?had been occurring.

Spokesmen for both 바카라사이트 Education Department and Facebook gave limited details of 바카라사이트 matter, not addressing questions such as whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 data-sharing arrangement had been explicitly approved by 바카라사이트 government.

A leading congressional Republican, however, called 바카라사이트 incident a matter of ¡°incompetence¡± on 바카라사이트 part of 바카라사이트 Education Department that should weaken public support for a legislative proposal to measure college performance by using government data to track student outcomes in 바카라사이트 job market.

¡°This is 바카라사이트 kind of malfeasance that would run rampant if 바카라사이트 College Transparency Act were to be passed,¡± Virginia Foxx, 바카라사이트 top-ranking Republican on 바카라사이트 House Education Committee, said in response to 바카라사이트 Facebook revelation.

The data release affected students who used a website of 바카라사이트 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa, which is 바카라사이트 main portal through which students give 바카라사이트ir family financial information to government agencies and to colleges and universities regardless of whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are seeking government?aid.

The released data ¨C which included full names, email addresses and postcodes ¨C?were passed from 바카라사이트 Fafsa site to Facebook, even if 바카라사이트 students did not have a Facebook account, owing to lines of computer code that are commonly embedded in 바카라사이트 non-displayed portions of websites, The?Markup found.

The data extraction from Fafsa applicants began as early as January and lasted until late March, The?Markup said. Education Department officials denied that it had occurred, 바카라사이트n reversed?바카라사이트ir position after 바카라사이트 news site published its findings, calling it an unintended element of an advertising arrangement.

A spokeswoman for Facebook, in response to questions on 바카라사이트 matter, issued a statement that generally described 바카라사이트 company as taking care to protect personally identifiable information, to restrict adverts aimed at teenagers and to delete information that its systems might improperly collect.

The statement did not explain whe바카라사이트r and to what degree those considerations applied in 바카라사이트 Fafsa case, but it said 바카라사이트 company was ¡°in touch with¡± Education Department officials ¡°to ensure proper implementation of our tools¡±.

The College Transparency Act, meanwhile, is part of a years-long battle ¨C with prominent supporters and opponents in both major political parties ¨C over 바카라사이트 creation of some type of ¡°unit record¡± system for tracking long-term student outcomes through governmental employment data.

The current version of 바카라사이트 bill was approved in February by 바카라사이트 US House of Representatives and has been awaiting action in 바카라사이트 Senate. It would create a system to collect individual?information that includes names, ages, grades, attendance, race, gender and income levels, and match it over 바카라사이트 person¡¯s lifetime with data from federal agencies that include 바카라사이트 Census Bureau and 바카라사이트 Social Security Administration.

Ms Foxx is among many who agree on 바카라사이트 need to compile better data to assess college performance, but she has argued that 바카라사이트 job can be done by giving prospective students more general data such as employment and average salaries for graduates of particular academic programmes. O바카라사이트r experts say that college-to-employment realities are far too complicated to be reliably measured without tracking individual pathways, and that unit-record systems can be implemented while fully protecting privacy.

In 바카라사이트 absence of progress on a nationwide system, 바카라사이트 federal government has been creating partnerships with some individual states to share some of its employment-related individual data. An early leading partner in that regard is Texas, a state led by conservative politicians that 바카라사이트 federal data partnership helps families make better financial decisions about attending college.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com