Law / United States / 
Illinois
Right to Privacy in the School Setting Act: student social networking account passwords
105 ILCS 75/5, 75/10 and 75/15
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Disclosure
What it requires
- If you are a post-secondary school, do not request or require a student or the student's parent or guardian to provide a password or other related account information to gain access to the student's account or profile on a social networking website, and do not demand access to it in any manner (105 ILCS 75/10(a)).
- You may adopt lawful policies governing use of your electronic equipment and monitor use of your electronic equipment and electronic mail without requesting or requiring a password or account information, and you may investigate and require a student to share reported content where there is specific information that activity on the student's account violates a school disciplinary rule or policy (105 ILCS 75/10(b) and (d)).
- If you are an elementary or secondary school, notify the student and the student's parent or guardian, in your disciplinary rules, policies, or handbook or by similar means, that you may not request or require a password or other related account information to gain access to the student's social networking account or profile, and that you may conduct an investigation and require the student to share reported content if there is specific information about activity that violates a school disciplinary rule or policy (105 ILCS 75/15).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
A post-secondary school or an agent of a post-secondary school that violates the Act is guilty of a petty offense (105 ILCS 75/20).
What this law does
The Act defines an elementary or secondary school as a public elementary or secondary school or school district or a nonpublic school recognized by the State Board of Education, and a post-secondary school as an institution of higher learning as defined in the Higher Education Student Assistance Act.
It is unlawful for a post-secondary school to request or require a student or his or her parent or guardian to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student's account or profile on a social networking website, or to demand access in any manner to it.
A post-secondary school may adopt lawful policies governing use of its electronic equipment and may monitor use of its electronic equipment and electronic mail without requiring a student to provide a password or account information. A post-secondary school may conduct an investigation, and may require a student to cooperate and share the reported content, if there is specific information about activity on the student's account that violates a school disciplinary rule or policy.
Section 10 does not prohibit a post-secondary school from obtaining information about a student that is in the public domain or that is otherwise obtained in compliance with the Act. An elementary or secondary school must notify the student and his or her parent or guardian that the school may not request or require a student to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student's account or profile on a social networking website.
The elementary or secondary school must also notify the student and parent or guardian that it may conduct an investigation, or require the student to cooperate in one, if there is specific information about activity on the student's social networking account that violates a school disciplinary rule or policy, and that the student may be required to share the reported content.
That notice must be published in the school's disciplinary rules, policies, or handbook or communicated by similar means. A post-secondary school or an agent of a post-secondary school that violates the Act is guilty of a petty offense.
When LexLint raises it
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