From the NYSED Privacy Office: The Supreme Court and Privacy
You may have heard that the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which overruled Roe v. Wade has dramatically reduced American’s right to privacy. As we know “privacy” is a broad term and can take on various meanings. The Dobbs decision reduced the scope of federal constitutional protection for privacy, especially for protections not explicitly addressed in the United States Constitution (i.e., abortion and potentially the right to contraception, same sex marriage etc.). Fear not however, the decision far from eliminates all privacy protections and the privacy protections that we concern ourselves with daily (student personally identifiable information) remain intact. For example, consider that in July 2021 the same justices in the Dobbs majority contemplated privacy concerns in Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta, a case regarding a requirement that charitable organizations disclose information about their major donors to the California Attorney General’s office.
Shared by NYSED Chief Privacy Officer Louise DeCandia
In this case the Court found that a “gravity of privacy concerns” supported shielding the identities of donors to charities. The Supreme Court relied upon the First Amendment’s freedom of association (the ability to donate to a charity without having to reveal your identity) to rule that such information is protected and does not have to be released. In reaching its decision the Court considered that California had breached the information about donors in the past and quoting a previous concurrence by Justice Alito, author of Dobbs, which stated that the risks of revealing donors is heightened because, “anyone with access to a computer [can] compile a wealth of information about’ anyone else, including such sensitive details as a person’s home address or the school attended by his children.” [page 17] The scope and application of privacy laws is, as evidenced by the above, ever changing and rest assured will continue to change but, the Dobbs decision should not implicate the role of DPOs and CPOs, who must continue to protect student personally identifiable information.
You can contact the NYSED CPO by emailing privacy@nysed.gov. Additional resources for DPOs can be found at http://www.nysed.gov/data-privacy-security/data-protection-officer-resources
Issue 27
Data Security and Privacy Service
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