We have been following the progress of the data privacy bills in the Michigan legislature. Melanie Kurdys offers the following update We STRONGLY urge you to continue to call your lawmakers and tell them to vote NO.
Sadly, but not surprisingly, the REPUBLICAN MAJORITY in the House Education Committee approved the PRETEND Data Privacy Bills, SB 33 and SB 510.Thank you Representatives Tom Hooker and Lee Chattfield for voting NO. We will not forget.
As I mentioned before, proponents claim that giving parents the right to Opt Out of data sharing of their students’ DIRECTORY (address & phone number) information is sufficient, while locking into statute the right of the schools to collect and share personally identifiable information that includes religious affiliation, political party affiliation, personality traits (and other psychometric data) and more.Schools are given permission to share WITHOUT having to ask for parental approval and without having to tell parents they are doing it!
If by chance parents should ask, they are instructed to tell them what is shared, but parents have no authority to delete, change or correct any information.Basically, this sets in stone the idea that information about our children does not belong to them or the family. Remember, this data also includes medical information such as BMI, vaccination records, behavioral referrals, ADD, ADHD & other diagnoses and more.In Governor Snyder’s Top 10 in 10, Seamless Pre-natal – workforce model, all our children’s data will be shared with prospective employers to facilitate the development and selection of members of the workforce.Did anyone watch this week’s episode of Black-ish? The family has twin 9 year olds who were told what they will be when they grow up. The parents tried to fight with the school, but to no avail. Even Hollywood is worried about this trend, it seems.The bills will head to the entire House, probably for a vote November 29. Please talk to your current Representatives & ask them to vote no. Next year, we can work with folks who truly want to develop Data Privacy Bills that will protect our kids.