FERPA – Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

FERPA was created in order to protect the privacy of student education records. This federal law provides guidelines as to who may access educational records and what they may do with them (students may request amendments to their educational records).

For additional information please see the NDSU FERPA document at:
http://www.ndsu.edu/general_counsel/Ferpa%20Newsletter.pdf

or visit the Department of Education information sheet at:
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

You can also find additional information at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act

HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HIPAA is a law enacted in 1996 to standardize the documentation, handling, and privacy of medical records and related documentation.

The basic idea of this law is similar to how FERPA treats educational records. HIPAA provides guidance as to who may access records and what their access may consist of.

Please visit the US Health & Human Services HIPAA site at:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HIPAAGenInfo/02_TheHIPAALawandMore.asp#TopOfPage

or visit HIPAA 101, a comprehensive third-party website at:
http://www.hipaa-101.com/

GLBA – Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Enacted in 1999, GLBA was created to protect personal financial information. While mostly targeted at financial institutions, any business or organization offering any of a number of financial activities can be affected by GLBA.

Some of these activities include:

• Providing educational courses and materials to consumers on individual financial management
• Providing advisory and related services for programs designed to promote community welfare
• Data processing or data transmission services, facilities, databases, advice and access to services, facilities, and databases by technological means

GLBA not only provides for collection and disclosure of personal financial information, it also provides requirements for institutions to design, implement, and maintain safeguards to protect that information.

For information, please visit the Federal Trade Commission GLBA website at:
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/glbact.html

ND OPEN RECORDS LAW

According to the state of North Dakota, all public entities are subject to open record laws. This includes NDSU Agriculture, Extension, and Research Station. Records include nearly all paper documentation as well as computer files and E-mail.

There are certain documents that are not open record. The laws listed above provide some exceptions to the open record laws. However, when an open record request is denied, the public entity (the person refusing the request) MUST be able to explain within reasonable time the legal authority (the law or ruling that prevents a specific document from being open record) to the person requesting access. When asked, the public entity must put the denial and explanation in writing.

Please view an open record fact sheet from the State of North Dakota at:
http://www.ag.nd.gov/Brochures/FactSheet/OR&MeetingsPublicOfficials.pdf

or visit the State of ND Open Records & Meetings website at:
http://www.ag.nd.gov/OpenRecords/ORM.htm

For examples of public vs private data, view this NDUS classification document:
http://www.ndus.nodak.edu/uploads/document-library/834/1901.2-DATA.PDF

Please note this site and the provided links do not necessarily reflect the position of NDSU or the State of North Dakota on legal matters relating to privacy and is listed solely as a reference. For final determination of legality for a subject or situation, please contact your legal counsel.