Law / United States / 
Wyoming
Student electronic writings and other electronic communications at the University of Wyoming and community colleges: expectation of privacy
Wyo. Stat. Ann. secs. 21-17-124 and 21-18-318
In force since .
A sensitive categories rule binding government bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition, Consent
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- If you are the University of Wyoming or a community college in Wyoming, do not require a student to waive or limit the student's expectation of privacy in the electronic writings and other electronic communications the student creates, including those stored on a device the institution paid for in whole or in part or transmitted or stored on its network (Wyo. Stat. Ann. secs. 21-17-124(b) and 21-18-318(b)).
- If you are the University of Wyoming or a community college in Wyoming and you view a student's writings or communications while supporting or maintaining the institution's device or network, view only those required to address the specific technical issue, and do not use or distribute them to any other person or entity unless federal or state law mandates (Wyo. Stat. Ann. secs. 21-17-124(b)(ii) and 21-18-318(b)(ii)).
- If you are the University of Wyoming or a community college in Wyoming, do not treat ownership of a student's electronic writing or communication as conveyed, transferred or otherwise affected solely because it is stored on the institution's device or transmitted or stored on its network (Wyo. Stat. Ann. secs. 21-17-124(a) and 21-18-318(a)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
What record it asks for
Logging duty
Sections 21-17-124 and 21-18-318 give a student an expectation of privacy in the student's electronic writings and bar the institution from requiring a waiver. They require no log or record, name no content fields or retention period, and set no audit.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Students at the University of Wyoming have an expectation of privacy in the electronic writings and other electronic communications they create, whether the writing is stored on an electronic device the university paid for in whole or in part or is transmitted or stored on the university's network. The university may not require a student to waive or limit that expectation of privacy.
Students at a community college in the state have the same expectation of privacy, and a community college may not require a student to waive or limit it. The expectation of privacy does not apply to a writing or communication the student publicly disclosed or made available for observation in a way that a person would not reasonably expect it to stay undisclosed.
It also does not apply to a writing or communication the institution accesses where a technological requirement to support and maintain its device or network demands it, and what is viewed then is limited to what the specific technical issue requires.
Neither the expectation of privacy nor the ownership protection applies to a writing or communication created by a student who is simultaneously employed by and enrolled at the institution when the student is acting in an official capacity as an employee. The sections neither impose nor bar any responsibility on the institution for collecting, maintaining or storing student writings and communications, and neither require nor prohibit standards on their retention and destruction.
A student is any person currently enrolled full time or part time at the institution. No ownership right to a student's electronic writing or communication is conveyed, transferred or otherwise affected solely because it is stored on an institution's device or transmitted or stored on its network. House Enrolled Act 27 of 2017 created both sections, and the act took effect on .
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