Youhere.org - FERPA Statement

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a U.S. Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Since Youhere is in use in many educational settings, we take the FERPA mission seriously. The law actually applies to schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education (which Youhere does not; we are not a school and not funded by the U.S. DOE). We do however, form our data protection philosophy and guidelines as if we were a school. So, here is our FERPA Statement:

To the extent Youhere receives, generates, and/or maintains educational records related to students, Youhere agrees to comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to the same extent as such laws and regulations apply to you, and shall limit access to only those employees or agents with a need to know and only for the purposes directly relating to these Terms of Service. For purposes of these Terms of Service and pursuant to FERPA, you hereby designate Youhere as a school official with a legitimate educational interest in the educational records of the students to the extent that access to the educational records are required by Youhere to perform its obligations and responsibilities relating to these Terms of Service. The requirements relating to FERPA apply during the term of these Terms of Service between the parties and in perpetuity thereafter, regardless of the reason for the termination of these Terms of Service.

We note two more points as it applied to Youhere/FERPA:

  • An exemption to the FERPA restrictions, which includes "directory information." It is stated as follows (see https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/faq/may-educational-agency-or-institution-disclose-directory-information-without-prior-consent).

    FERPA defines "directory information" as follows:

    “Directory information” means information contained in an education record of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Directory information includes, but is not limited to, the student’s name; address; telephone listing; electronic mail address; photograph; date and place of birth; major field of study; grade level; enrollment status (e.g.,undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time); dates of attendance; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; weight and height of members of athletic teams; degrees, honors and awards received; and the most recent educational agency or institution attended.
    We note this exception, because all Youhere ever collects of your participants is their name (used to build your private attendance roster). So depending on how your institution handles "directory information," Youhere's collection of a name may be treated as such.

  • Youhere's Core Privacy option allows you to obfuscate (i.e. scramble) names of your participants, as they are stored on our server. So, no actual names would be stored. Thus, FERPA restrictions may be moot.