Sold Out August 25, 2005 Lauren I would just like to take a moment to thank my university for selling my email address and my cell phone number.
They did WHAT?! No, seriously, this means my shit it probably out there, too. Whose office do we have to burn down to stop this? That’s asinine.
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Just wait until the same university sends letters begging for money at regular intervals… for the rest of your life (or until you move without updating your address)
They probably just thought you’d be very interested in a few, carefully selected third party offers of services and merchandise. You are right to be thankful that they are looking out for you.
Lauren, that sucks big time, but of course it isn’t a surprise… I have always found it somewhat galling that our personal information is not considered ours exclusively, but rather is a commodity to be bought and sold. And if we don’t like it, tough–we are told that it’s the price of living in the Information Age. This is, of course, bullshit; peddled to us by the individuals and corporations making money off of that info. I wonder…if enough of our legislators were to become ID theft victims…would they then be willing to make more stringent laws to enable us to control our information? Of course, you’d need other authorities who would be willing to enforce those laws…maybe all this is too much to hope for…
No, but seriously, there are restrictions with FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (I think)) which specify that you must be given an opportunity to opt-out of the school (at any level) providing your contact information to any outside body for any purpose other than criminal investigations. FERPA protects your son, for example, by not allowing any of his information to be released to anyone except you. You should have had a chance to opt-out of information release both by Purdue for your info, and by Ethan’s school for his. I’m almost 100% sure you can call Purdue and throw a shit fit about this.
Yes, I just verified this. You, as a student of legal age and as the parent of a student, have the right to request a form which specifies how you wish to restrict your and your dependent’s directory information.
The invisible hand that moves the market strikes again – and strikes at the last bastion of liberism to boot. I’m sorry, Lauren – it’s all a major pain in the ass – I’ve put two through college already with two more to go so can I feel your pain.
I was considering going exclusivally to my cell phone, instead I keep my POTS line and I simply unhooked it. I use that number on all forms. The only time I give out the cell number is if it’s to a person who needs to contacts me and I have made it clear that they are not to enter it in any “system” other then a slip of paper.
Actually, Anne, I wasn’t worried becuase I distinctly remembered checking the box that declines them the ability to release my information to outside organizations without my approval. While it’s true the U gets money off this, unfortunately it’s not just market forces that are involved here, we’re talking a 30-year-old student privacy protection law that is still in force. You can do a google search for “FERPA site:UNIVERSITY_NAME.edu” and find the federal office at which you can file a complaint. The reason I remembered the name of the act so clearly is because I just had to take a training course in research ethics, which clearly outlined what you can and can’t do with records under FERPA (for educational institutions) and HIPAA (medical records).