BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1442
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Date of Hearing: April 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
AB 1442 (Gatto) - As Amended: April 7, 2014
[Note: This bill was double referred to the Assembly Judiciary
Committee and was heard by that committee as it relates to
issues under its jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT : Pupil records: social media
SUMMARY : Establishes requirements for local education agencies
(LEAs), including school districts, county offices of education,
and charter schools, that consider and adopt a program to gather
or maintain in its records any personal information obtained
from social media of any enrolled pupil. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires that any LEA that considers a program to gather or
maintain in its records any personal information obtained from
social media of any enrolled pupil shall notify pupils and
their parents or guardians about the proposed program and
provide an opportunity for public comment before the adoption
of the program.
2)Requires any LEA that adopts a program to gather or maintain
pupil information from social media to do the following:
a) Gather or maintain only information that was made
publicly accessible, which shall not include the following:
i) Information that the LEA knows or has reason to
believe was reposted or otherwise made publicly
accessible by another party without the express consent
of the original author; and
ii) Any secondary information, including, but not
limited to, geolocation information, derived from content
posted to social media, unless that secondary information
was intentionally made publicly accessible.
b) Provide a pupil with access to any personal information
about the pupil gathered or maintained by the LEA that was
obtained from social media, and an opportunity to correct
or delete information that was gathered or maintained in
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violation of the restrictions described above.
c) Destroy personal information gathered from social media
and maintained in its records within one year after a pupil
turns 18 years of age or within one year after the pupil is
no longer enrolled in the LEA, whichever comes first.
d) Notify each parent or guardian of a pupil that the
pupil's personal information is being gathered from social
media and that any information gathered from social media
maintained in the LEA' s records with regard to the pupil
shall be destroyed in accordance the timeline described
above.
e) Requires that contracts with a third party to gather
personal information from social media do all of the
following:
i) Prohibit the third party from using the information
for its own purposes;
ii) Prohibit the third party from selling or sharing the
information with any person or entity other than the LEA;
and
iii) Require the third party to destroy the information
immediately upon satisfying the terms of the contract,
within one year after a pupil turns 18, or within one
year after the pupil is no longer enrolled in the LEA,
whichever comes first.
3)Defines "social media" to mean an electronic service or
account, or electronic content, including, but not limited to,
videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts,
instant and text messages, e-mail, online services or
accounts, or Internet Web site profiles or locations.
4)Defines "publicly accessible" to mean anything posted on
social media or any other Internet Web site that is accessible
to the general public.
5)Specifies that "publicly accessible" does not include anything
posted on social media or any other Internet Web site that is
only accessible to a restricted group of persons.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
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COMMENTS : The increasing incidence of cyberbullying has led
many parents and members of the public to look to the schools as
a point of intervention. Existing law allows a pupil to be
suspended or recommended for expulsion for bullying "by means of
an electronic act," which includes posting on social media. A
pupil can be suspended or recommended for expulsion if the
cyberbullying substantially disrupts school activities, whether
the electronic act was created and transmitted on or off the
schoolsite. Districts can also take other appropriate actions,
such as notifying parents or offering counseling, before it
escalates or affects a school activity. Because cyberbullying
has often been a precursor to violence, personal injury, and
even death, there is a growing demand for early discovery and
intervention.
Accordingly, some districts have begun monitoring the social
media activities of their pupils, which they are permitted to do
under the permissive Education Code. One such district,
Glendale Unified School District, contracted with Geo Listening,
a Hermosa Beach-based company that monitors the publicly
accessible messages and images that pupils post on blogs and
Internet services such as Facebook and Twitter. The company's
computer flags certain words that might suggest, among other
thing, suicidal thoughts, bullying, self-harm, substance abuse,
domestic violence or abuse, and hate speech. Glendale USD took
this action after two students committed suicide in the same
school year. Some believe that bullying was at least a
contributing factor in those deaths.
According to the author's office, some district students and
their parents feel that such monitoring intrudes too far into
their off-campus lives. In addition, they express concerns that
pictures and texts posted by still-young students could be
stored by private companies and used in the future in ways that
could "come back to haunt them," such as in connection with a
job application.
This bill addresses those concerns by imposing restrictions on
the use of information obtained from social media by LEAs and
their contractors. Specifically, it requires LEAs that gather
such information to (1) gather only information that is publicly
accessible, as specified; (2) provide pupils the opportunity to
delete or correct inappropriately gathered information; (3)
destroy the gathered information within specified time frames;
and (4) notify parents and guardians of the information
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gathering program. In addition, the bill prohibits contractors
from using the information for its own purposes and from selling
or sharing the information with any person or entity other than
the LEA. The bill also requires the contractor to destroy the
information within specified time frames.
Recommended amendments. This bill requires that any LEA that
considers a program to gather information on pupils from social
media to provide an opportunity for public comment before the
adoption of the program. Staff recommends the bill be amended
to specify that the public comment should occur at a public
meeting of the district or COE governing board or the charter
school's governing body. This provides the most visible venue
for public comment and ensures that comments are heard by
members of the governing bodies.
In addition, this bill requires that parents and guardians be
notified of the information gathering program. Staff recommends
that the bill be amended to clarify that this notification may
be part of the annual notification already required pursuant to
Section 48980 of the Education Code.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Civil Liberties Union
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Rick Pratt / ED. / (916) 319-2087