• FERPA - Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974

  A Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applied to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education.

• USA-Patriot Act 2001

  To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes.

• SEVIS - Student and Exchange Visitor Information System - Department of Homeland Security

  The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is a web-based system for maintaining information on international students and exchange visitors in the United States. SEVIS is administered by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

• Clery Act - Campus Crime Reporting

  Includes requirements for providing security policies and procedures to the campus community, reporting data on campus related crimes, and alerting the campus to crime threats.

• GLBA - Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999

  A federal act that protects data of loan customers. Aimed at banks and other financial institutions, but higher education institutions are not exempt. Has two parts, a Privacy Rule and a Safeguards Rule. The Privacy Rule portion is satisfied by compliance to FERPA. The Safeguards Rule requires a written information security plan. For more information visit the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

• HIPPA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996

  The HIPAA protects patient information. Will have the greatest impact on those Universities with hospitals and clinics. Has some impact on research. For more information visit the US Department of Health and Human Services.

• PCIDSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard

  Mandates from the payment card industry to protect cardholder data. Requires all merchants who store, process, or transmit cardholder data to comply with their data security standards. As the total transactions increases, additional requirements in the form of compliance validation steps also increase.

• Copyright and Fair Use

  A federal law covering the rights and limitations extended to creators and original materials. Copyright is a legal device the provides the creator of a work of art or literature, or a work the conveys information or ideas, the right to control how the work is used. Fair use is the most significant limitation on the copyright holder's exclusive right. Deciding whether the use of a work is fair is not a science. There are no set guidelines that are universally accepted.

• DMCA - Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

  The DMCA is a United States copyright law. This legislation implements two 1996 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties: the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. The act also addresses a number of significant copyright related issues. The act criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, no merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. The DMCA amended title 17 of the US Code to extend the reach of copyright, while limiting the liability of Online Providers from copyright infringement by their users.

• ADA - Americans with Disabilities Act 1990

  The ADA is a wide-ranging legislation intended to make American Society more accessible to people with disabilities. It is divided into five titles:

  1. Employment
  2. Public Services
  3. Public Accommodations
  4. Telecommunications
  5. Miscellaneous

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Last Updated: 03/15/2006