Law / United States / 
Utah
Internet Postsecondary Institution Privacy: no request for a student's or prospective student's personal Internet account password, with a private right of action
Utah Code 53H-14-301 to 53H-14-305
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding government bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
What it requires
- If you are a Utah public college, university or technical college, do not request a student or prospective student to disclose a username and password, or a password that allows access to the student's or prospective student's personal Internet account (Utah Code 53H-14-302(1)).
- Do not expel, discipline, fail to admit, or otherwise penalize a student or prospective student for failure to disclose that information (Utah Code 53H-14-302(2)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Statutory damages
Utah Code 53H-14-305(2): if the court finds a violation of the part, the court shall award the aggrieved person not more than $500.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
What this law does
A public institution of higher education in Utah may not request a student or prospective student to disclose a username and password, or a password that allows access to the student's or prospective student's personal Internet account. An institution may not expel, discipline, fail to admit, or otherwise penalize a student or prospective student for failure to disclose that information.
A personal Internet account is an online account that a student or prospective student uses exclusively for personal communications unrelated to any purpose of an institution, and it does not include an account the student or prospective student uses for education related communications or for an educational purpose of the institution.
The part does not prohibit an institution from requesting or requiring a student to disclose a username or password to gain access to or operate an electronic communications device the institution supplied or paid for in whole or in part, or an account or service the institution provides that the student obtained by admission or uses for educational purposes. The part creates no duty for an institution to search or monitor the activity of a personal Internet account.
A person aggrieved by a violation of the part may bring a civil cause of action against an institution, and if the court finds a violation the court shall award the aggrieved person not more than $500.
An institution of higher education, for Title 53H, is an institution of higher education listed in subsections (1)(a) and (1)(b) of section 53H-1-102, and includes a branch or affiliated institution and a campus or facilities owned, operated, or controlled by the board of trustees of the institution of higher education. Except as a section expressly provides, the provisions of Title 53H do not apply to a private postsecondary educational institution.
Senate Bill 1001 of the 2025 First Special Session renumbered section 53B-25-201 as section 53H-14-302. House Bill 100 of the 2013 General Session enacted the Internet Postsecondary Institution Privacy Act. House Bill 100 of the 2013 General Session took effect on .
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