[Seems to be a matter of either schools not reading the company's privacy policy before handing out surveys -- or not asking what some of the "your-data-will-be-sold-to-other-organizations" phrases in the contract meant. In any case, this is, or should be, a matter of plain ol'contract law. Note to schools: Read the fine print next time. --Declan] --- From: "Xeni Jardin" <xeniat_private> To: "Declan McCullagh" <declanat_private> Subject: College-Survey firm quietly sells students' digital data to online+offline marketers Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 19:45:11 -0800 Among the companies that reportedly purchase data from American Student List, the company named in today's WSJ piece: "Gillette Co.; credit-card purveyors American Express Co. and Capital One Financial Corp.; Kaplan Inc., the Washington Post Co. unit that is the largest admissions test-coaching chain; Primedia Inc.'s Seventeen Magazine; and Columbia House Record Club, which is owned by AOL Time Warner Inc. and Sony Corp." Check out American Student List's web site <http://www.studentlist.com/> for details on what they sell, to whom, and how. Among their offerings: "NEW! Opt-in E-mail Addresses. Over 2 million teens, college students and young adults ranging in age from 16 to 25, who have opted-in to receive information on products and services through e-mail solicitation. 100,000 monthly hotline updates. " --XJ <snip> Marketers obtain teenagers' names and addresses from many other sources, such as magazine-subscription lists and Web sites. What distinguishes National Research is that it gathers student names in a classroom survey that many school officials believe will be made available only to educational institutions, but which then is sold to commercial marketers. National Research has also made its presence widely felt as it competes with the influential College Board to sell student information to colleges and as it lobbies Congress to kill legislation that would restrict collection of some student information. (...) National Research's president, Don M. Munce, says it has never hidden its commercial ties from high schools or colleges who inquire about them. But few do. Its survey includes a "privacy statement" explaining that responses are "used by colleges, universities and other organizations to assist students and their families." Mr. Munce says referring to "other organizations" is sufficient disclosure of National Research's commercial ties. He adds that the privacy statement was designed to be brief because "teachers are very busy." </snip> ---------------------------------- December 3, 2001 College-Survey Firm Quietly Peddles Student Information to Big Marketer By DANIEL GOLDEN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1007345870354311480.htm> Each year, more than one million U.S. high-school students take time out of their school day to fill out a survey asking their names, addresses, grade-point averages, races, religions and social views. The organization that sponsors the survey, the National Research Center for College and University Admissions, tells the schools it will broaden students' higher-education options by distributing their names and profiles to hundreds of colleges and universities across the country. But colleges aren't the only recipients of the survey results. Generally unknown to high schools, colleges, students and their parents, National Research for at least a decade has also sold the personal information it gathers to the country's leading supplier of young people's names to commercial marketers, American Student List LLC. American Student List pays for the information by helping to fund the National Research survey. American Student List then sells student names and other information to companies that solicit students for a wide array of goods and services. Companies that buy student names from American Student List include shaving giant Gillette Co.; credit-card purveyors American Express Co. and Capital One Financial Corp.; Kaplan Inc., the Washington Post Co. unit that is the largest admissions test-coaching chain; Primedia Inc.'s Seventeen Magazine; and Columbia House Record Club, which is owned by AOL Time Warner Inc. and Sony Corp. Huge Influence >From its base in Lee's Summit, Mo., National Research -- a little-known company with just 30 employees -- has become a hugely influential force in a burgeoning industry surrounding college admissions in which companies and colleges buy names and detailed information about young people. Publicly presenting itself as a service to students and colleges, National Research doesn't readily disclose its role in helping commercial marketers pitch their products to an impressionable and highly valued audience. Marketers obtain teenagers' names and addresses from many other sources, such as magazine-subscription lists and Web sites. What distinguishes National Research is that it gathers student names in a classroom survey that many school officials believe will be made available only to educational institutions, but which then is sold to commercial marketers. National Research has also made its presence widely felt as it competes with the influential College Board to sell student information to colleges and as it lobbies Congress to kill legislation that would restrict collection of some student information. Many teachers and educational officials express anger and disbelief when told that National Research sells student names to commercial marketers. "It's so disgusting," says Barbara Henry, admissions director at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, which buys student information from National Research. "Everybody's upset when their children are solicited" without parental approval. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. 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