Almost-Law College Transparency Act Would Build Another National Surveillance SystemThe federal student data system embedded in this bill is only one conference committee away from President Biden signing it into law.
By Anonymous
March 2, 2022
Who needs China’s authoritarian social credit system when America is already embarking on its own path to creating a “national student data system” that can secretly track and profile citizens? The College Transparency Act moving swiftly through Congress now aims to collect and share highly personal information about every college student without their consent or ability to opt-out.
According to the bill, the student-level data the federal government collects will include “student-related surveys,” race or ethnicity, age, sex, attendance, program of study, military or veteran benefit status, enrollment and credential status, distance education enrollment status, and federal Pell Grant status. Wait, that’s not all. “[A]dditional data” will be collected and tracked, including but not limited to, economic status, participation in remedial coursework, status as a parent of dependent children, incarceration or confinement status, disability status, and “other” undefined data to be collected as the government later deems necessary.
The CTA was snuck in via a last-minute amendment to the America Competes Act. It moved quickly out of the House on Feb 4, 2022, without a legislative hearing, with only 12 minutes total discussion, and passed by roll call vote. The federal student data system embedded in this bill is only one conference committee away from President Biden signing it into law. That committee is expected to consider this bill soon.
Notably, biometric data, personality data, and behavioral data collection such as facial expression, threat and risk scores, predictive analytics, and social-emotional data are not prohibited in this bill. The CTA also has language that specifically allows third parties to sell student data (page 58): “nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prohibit third-party entities from using publicly-available information in this data system for commercial purposes.”
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The College Transparency Act would create this mandatory national student-level data system to track students throughout college and then “at [undefined] time intervals” after they leave college. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which recently celebrated the CTA’s passage, has a long history of pushing to remove the current federal ban on a national student database. Many Gates-funded groups have also pushed for increasingly broad student data collection and disclosures and sharing of student data without consent.
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Source:
https://thefederalist.com/2022/03/02/almost-law-college-transparency-act-would-build-another-national-surveillance-system/
