New Department of Education Database Freaks Out Privacy Advocates

Inside Higher Ed reports that advocates for colleges and students are "freaked out" by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General's plan to gather personally identifiable information from nine existing databases of grant, loan and contract recipients into one giant “data analytics system. The plan grants numerous waivers to the federal Privacy Act that will allow the inspector general to share information from its new database with other parties — other federal agencies, state law enforcement agencies, and even foreign governments — that request it and can persuade the department that they need it. And those disclosures can be permitted without notifying those whose information is being released or giving them a chance to correct flawed information. Notice of the plan in the Federal Register. [JH]