Law / United States / 
Oregon
Oregon bar on compelled access to students' personal social media accounts
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding public and private bodies.
- Enforcement body
- A person aggrieved by a violation, by a civil action in circuit court under ORS 350.274.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Access restriction
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not require, request or otherwise compel a student or prospective student to disclose or provide access to a personal social media account through a user name and password, password or other means of authentication that provides access (ORS 350.272(1)(a)).
- Do not require, request or otherwise compel a student or prospective student to access a personal social media account in the presence of an administrator or other employee in a manner that lets that person observe its contents (ORS 350.272(1)(b)).
- Do not discipline, threaten to discipline or bar from curricular or extracurricular activities a student or prospective student for refusing to do either, and do not refuse to admit a prospective student for refusing (ORS 350.272(1)(c), (d)).
- If the institution obtains a student's user name, password or other means of authentication for a social media account through its policies governing the use of its equipment or computer networks, do not use the information obtained without the student's voluntary consent (ORS 350.272(3)).
- The bar does not stop an investigation based on specific information about activity on a personal account, and a student's cooperation in it does not include providing the user name, password or other means of authentication (ORS 350.272(2)(a), (b)).
- The section does not reach kindergarten, elementary or secondary schools, or social media accounts intended solely for educational purposes or created and provided by the institution with advance notice that the account may be monitored at any time (ORS 350.272(4), (5)(a)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Statutory damages
ORS 350.274(1): damages are $200 or actual damages, whichever is greater. A grievance must be filed with the institution's governing body within 180 days of the violation, a prevailing plaintiff recovers reasonable attorney fees, and a claim against a public institution also needs a notice of claim within 180 days.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 200
What record it asks for
Logging duty
The section bars an educational institution from compelling a student or applicant to hand over a social media password or let staff watch the account. It names no log, no record the institution keeps, no audit and no reader of a record.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
ORS 350.272 bars a public or private educational institution from requiring, requesting or otherwise compelling a student or prospective student to disclose or provide access to a personal social media account through a user name and password, password or other means of authentication.
The institution also may not require a student or prospective student to access a personal social media account in the presence of an administrator or other employee in a manner that lets the employee observe its contents. An institution may not discipline or threaten to discipline a student, or refuse to admit a prospective student, for refusing.
An institution that obtains a student's social media authentication information through its policies governing the use of its equipment or computer networks may not use the information obtained without the student's voluntary consent. The term educational institution includes community colleges and the public universities listed in ORS 352.002 and does not include kindergarten, elementary or secondary schools.
ORS 350.272 does not apply to social media accounts intended for use solely for educational purposes at an educational institution. A person aggrieved by a violation may bring a civil action, and damages are $200 or actual damages, whichever is greater. An action may not be filed unless a grievance has been filed with the governing body of the educational institution within 180 days of the alleged violation. The court shall award reasonable attorney fees to a prevailing plaintiff. Chapter 408, Oregon Laws 2013 (Senate Bill 344), took effect on .
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