Glossary of Terms

There is a great deal of terminology related to data privacy. Please familiarize yourself with these key terms:

COPPA – The Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act is a law dealing with how websites, apps, and other online operators collect data and personal information from kids under the age of 13.COPPA has a number of requirements, but some key ones are that tech companies making apps, websites, and online tools for kids under 13 must:

• • • provide notice and get parental consent before collecting information from kids;

    • have a "clear and comprehensive" privacy policy;

    • and keep information they collect from kids confidential and secure. (Source: Complying with COPPA: Frequently Asked Questions

DPA – Data Privacy Agreement. We use a Montana-specific DPA. This is the document we we need our vendors to sign. Once they return the signed DPA, we can add the resource to our Approved list. Click HERE to view the Montana DPA.

FERPA – The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student (“eligible student”).

PII – Personally Identifiable Information. Every time we create a login (username & password), we provide various information about our identities. This may include name, address, gender, birth date, etc. It is critical that we protect our students' PII.

Privacy Policy – A privacy policy is a statement or legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a company gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer's data. Every third-party resource should have a Privacy Policy linked on their website. (source: Wikipedia)

SDPC – Student Data Privacy Consortium.The Montana Student Data Privacy Consortium is a collaboration of Montana school districts that share common concerns around student privacy.

Terms of Service (ToS) – Also known as terms of use and terms and conditions (commonly abbreviated as TOS or ToS, ToU or T&C) are the legal agreements between a service provider and a person who wants to use that service. The person must agree to abide by the terms of service in order to use the offered service. (source: Wikipedia)

For a comprehensive list of terminology, please click here.