Dive Brief:

• The Student Digital Privacy Act proposed Monday by President Barack Obama is aimed at elementary and secondary school students, but what about those in college?
• The act could still have an influence on student data privacy at the college level, partly because so much data for younger students follows them into college, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
• The privacy act would stop companies from selling student data for purposes not related to education .

Dive Insight:

Considering the Republican Congress's opposition to all things Obama, what data the act would and would not cover may be a moot point. One concern Obama raised in his speech announcing the student data privacy initiative was companies using student information for commercial purposes like targeted advertising. As new education technologies collect more student data for analysis, the privacy risk increases.