California's Assembly unanimously passed the nation's first-ever K-12 student online privacy measure that would prohibit the use of students' personal information for profit.
Companies that provide online services for classroom teaching frequently require students to create accounts that store their contact data and personal academic information, according to Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg's release. Some of the collected data includes information on students' personal lives, such as how many rooms they had at home and, in some cases, their exact locations.
The Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA), would prohibit app companies from requiring students to create a profile unless an educational purpose is clear. Additionally, companies wouldn't be allowed to sell or disclose student data.
The legislation will now move on to the state's Senate.