Monday, August 17, 2020

Monday, August 17, 2020

OSU to store employee and student location data for contact tracing

AN O’Colly Creation

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By Alex Sloan News Editor @sloan_alex Student and employee location data will be kept by the university for up to 30 days to aid in contact tracing efforts, according to Oklahoma State University’s reopening plan.

The reopening plan was announced on June 4, 2020, and is publicly available online.

“Leveraging existing campus technology, OSU has developed analytics to identify employee and student movement across the OSU campus via WiFi access points,” the website reads.

In addition to using data from WiFi access points, the plan also specifies class schedules, ID card transactions, and housing and office assignments as data that will be leveraged to aid in contact tracing.

Also of importance is the data that will not be stored. According to the university’s website, no content data is, or will be collected from individual devices. The plan limits the distribution of this location data to University Health Services.

“This location data will be held in extreme confidence and shared only with leadership of University Health Services (UHS) when cases arise for which location information is useful,” the website reads.

The O’Colly reached out to the university and privacy experts to find answers to several questions surrounding implementation of this policy.

University officials responded in a collection of written statements through email. Below is an overview of what they had to say, in addition to expert

opinions regarding the privacy aspect of this new policy.

1. How specifically is this data being stored, and how is it being secured?

Dr. Christie Hawkins, associate vice president and director of institutional research and analytics, said in a written statement that the location data would be stored on servers that are physically located on campus. The servers are owned by OSU, and not leased through a thirdparty.

Hawkins said server security would be maintained by university OSU’s information technology department.

2. The Cowboys Coming Back plan reads “Leveraging existing campus technology, OSU has developed analytics to identify employee and student movement across the OSU campus via WiFi access points.” What

“existing technology” is being leveraged, and has it been used on campus previously? Basically, is the location tracking technology new, or is it just the analytics that are new this semester?

Hawkins goes on to explain the nature of OSU’s previous use of WiFi access point data. She said while the WiFi access data has been collected by the university for some time, it has never been used by Institutional Research and Analytics.

“Location data is tied to the access point, not the user,” Hawkins said in her statement. “While this data is stored for 30 days by IT, normally it’s only used for things like connection counts and network analysis.”

3. In the age of targeted advertising, near real-time location data on so many individuals is incredibly valuable. What

kind of enforceable assurances are in place that the university will not share this data with any third party marketing partners, or use the data for the university’s own marketing decisions? Furthermore, what prevents the university from using this location data to maximize revenues from student spending, even without sharing it with any third parties?

Shanon Rigsby, the university’s public information officer, provided the answer to this question in the same written statement, using information given to her by Hawkins.

“OSU takes the personal privacy of students and employees very seriously,” the statement reads.

“Beyond the protection granted to students through the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, OSU places the utmost importance

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on the ethics of how data may be used.”

Rigsby said the OSU Orange Key Account Services agreement gives the university the right to share information from its computing system with the relevant authorities during a health or public safety emergency. She said the data would only be shared with University Health Sciences leadership, and only in relation to necessary contact tracing efforts.

Additionally, she emphasized the limited nature of the data being collected in this manner.

“It is also important to note that WIFI access point data is strictly location data and does not include any device content data,” her statement reads.

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Rigsby said this information would only be used by institutional research and analytics in the event of a positive COVID-19 test. She said the data could be used to determine who was in close contact with a COVID-19 positive individual, as well as identifying buildings with multiple positive COVID-19 tests.

“We have never used WIFI data for analytic purposes,” Rigsby said. “It’s solely being used for this health crisis.”

4. Has OSUPD ever previously used student location data collected by the university, and will they have access to this location data? What would prevent them from doing so?

Capt. Colt Chandler of the OSUPD provided a written statement in response to this question. He said OSUPD has previously used device location data for the purpose of recovering stolen property.

“OSUPD has used student location data collected by Rave Guardian/ IT for emergency phone call location and pinging to expedite services,” Chandler said in his statement. “I estimate the practices were put in place after the installation of WIFI access points and with the invention of Reverse 911 technology.”

Rigsby added to this information, saying in her statement that although OSUPD has and continues to use location data to track devices, they will only ever track the devices, and not the students themselves.

5. Would this location data not be considered a record, and what exemptions exist within the Oklahoma Open Records Act that the university could cite to keep this data sealed?

This, more than any of The O’Colly’s other inquiries, seemed to cause disagreement between univer-

Students move on to campus summer 2020. An O’Colly creation.

sity officials, and outside education rights and transparency advocates.

In a written statement provided to The O’Colly, Associate General Counsel Brandee Hancock said the location data could legally be kept on a need-to-know basis by the university.

Hancock claims in her statement that employee location data is protected by an exemption within the Oklahoma Open Records Act, while student data is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

After receiving this statement, The O’Colly requested university counsel cite the specific exemptions in both FERPA and the Oklahoma Open Records Act which allowed this data to remained sealed.

In a follow up email, Senior Staff Attorney Gaylan Towle II cited 51 O.S. § 24A.7(A)(2) of the Open Records Act. According to the text of the act, this emption allows personnel records be kept confidential “where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

The protections against disclosure

of student location data, however, seem to be less clear-cut.

Towle re-asserted Hancock’s claim that FERPA protects student location data in his follow up email.

“Because of the protection afforded to education records under FERPA, this student location data would not be disclosed pursuant to an Open Records Request,” the email reads.

However, a representative of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) indicated his disagreement with that assertion. FIRE Senior Research Counsel Adam Goldstein said interpreting FERPA in this manner was a misreading of the law.

“I’m skeptical of that explanation,” Goldstein said.

“The core reason I’m skeptical is, this isn’t what FERPA is supposed to do.”

He said there may be privacy laws on the books that the university could use to shield student location data, but FERPA wasn’t it.

“FERPA is just not a general privacy law, it’s just not meant to protect everything that

might be private,” Goldstein said. “I think if you carry out the logic that this information is protected by FERPA, you run into a bunch of illogical outcomes, and a bunch of obstacles.”

For example, he said, if this information is covered

by FERPA, students have a right to inspect their personal location data.

“So, what provisions have they made for students to be able to inspect their location data?” Goldstein asked.

He said another aspect of FERPA is that it doesn’t just limit the public’s access to information, but institutional access to information.

“FERPA doesn’t just limit access under Open Records Law, it limits access within the institution to people who have a legitimate educational need to see it,” Goldstein said.

“Well, this information is not educational, so the list of people who have an educational need to this information is: nobody.”

Goldstein said he also took issue with labeling location data as an educational record.

“There’s things on

Adam Luther

campus you may be doing that are education related,” Goldstein said.

“But there’s things on campus you may be doing that aren’t education related.

Like, how does it relate to your education, if you go have a taco?”

“If this information is of you not engaging in any educational activity, then it’s even less educational than it would otherwise be,” Goldstein said.

“And I think it’s not particularly educational to begin with.”

However, a transparency advocate who spoke to The O’Colly for this story had a more optimistic assessment of the University’s ability to withhold the location data under FERPA. The Director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, Frank LoMonte, seemed more confident in the university’s ability to claim a FERPA exemption, but emphasized that the specifics of this matter have not yet been litigated. He said it’s difficult to say for certain how courts would rule on this issue, but said the data could be protected by FERPA if it could be used to identify

an individual student.

“The threshold question with FERPA, is ‘is this information about a particular, identifiable student, that is stored as part of that student’s permanent record?’ If data is stored with a student’s permanent record, and it identifiably points to a particular student, than it can be covered by FERPA even if it is not educational in nature,” LoMonte said.

He said individual student’s location data would likely be protected by the law. However, if you ask for broad, aggregate data, that information would likely need to be released.

“If somebody just wanted data on, ‘how many students are you tracking,’ or something of that nature, that’s absolutely not protected by FERPA, and that should be readily given out,” LoMonte said.

Despite disagreeing about the strength of the FERPA exemption for student location data, both LoMonte and Goldstein said students should be given access to their own location data if the university intends to attempt to use a FERPA exemption.

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MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2020

‘This is very disappointing, frightening and 100% predictable’: OSU community reacts to large crowds at Stillwater bars

By Ryan Novozinsky Editor-in-Chief @ryannovo62

Despite classes at Oklahoma State University starting Monday and COVID-19 cases rising, the bars on Stillwater’s Washington Street have been packed.

These crowds are causing concern among some OSU students, who will have to attend class with some of these individuals on Monday.

“No way this goes well,” said OSU student Preston Moore.

“There’s just no way.”

“Quit being stupid and stop congregating in such large crowds during a pandemic,” OSU student Layne Turner said in a tweet. “If you are one of

these Apeople, you are part of the problem. Life will not return to normal so long as people like this keep contributing to the status quo.”

In addition to students, some faculty members are also pessimistic about the future effects of these crowds.

“This is very disappointing, frightening and 100% predictable,” said OSU professor Dr. Thad Leffingwell.

While some students and faculty members are fearful for the semester to start, there’s also a large semblance of students who are confident in going to the bars and resuming normal life.

“Everyone needs to get over this its communism by tellin us

Washington Street bars have been packed this week.

what to do and not to do LIVE YOUR LIFE everyone will be immune to it by the end of the year whether you have it or the antibody STILL LESS DEATHS THEN THE COMMON FLU,” OSU student Ethan Jones said in a tweet.

According to a New York Times story, the coronavirus is both more deadly and more contagious than the flu AAnother relevant issue is how these crowds could relate the status of college football. Some members of the OSU football team, who also have to go to class with some of these students next week, shared their thoughts on this.

“Yup.. I’ve decided.. I’m not

going to class Monday,” said OSU safety Tre Sterling. “’We want a season,’ yeah ight.....” said OSU defensive lineman Collin Clay.

OSU officials have not responded to these videos, but Stillwater mayor Will Joyce said city officials are meeting about large crowds soon.

“The Stillwater City Council meets tomorrow evening. Pandemic response, including a potential ordinance to allow more opportunity for outdoor service by bars, is on the agenda,” Joyce said in a tweet. “I am also evaluating other possible actions through emergency declaration, if necessary.”

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O’Colly Friday, August 14, 2020 Page 1B

SPORTS

The hits to OSU’s athletics keep coming.

This time it’s cross country

By Chris Becker Digital Editor @brhris_cecker316 For the second time in 2020, Oklahoma State will not get to host a national championship that it was set to. This time in cross country.

OSU has just finished building a state of the art cross country course, but sadly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA has canceled fall sports national championships. As for the course, cross country and track director Dave Smith is still excited for what is to come this season on the course despite the loss.

“I think we have the best cross country course in the entire world,” Smith told reporters in a Zoom call Friday. “We were going to be the first championship on ESPN. So that’s disappointing.”

Smith, although disappointed, was not surprised by NCAA President Mark Emmert’s cancellation of fall championships and said teams knew of the circumstances it would take to keep the championship alive for the fall.

“You know, it’s disappointing, not totally unexpected,” Smith said. “We knew a week or so ago that if we dropped below that 50 percent participation threshold, we would lose the current format for the championships.

Just kind of talking to my colleagues around the country, we kind of saw this coming once we heard what the threshold was. So disappointing for sure, but not totally unexpected at this point.”

Despite the press conference happening less than 24 hours after the NCAA’s announcement, Smith said multiple coaches and people from other conferences had already reached out

OSU’s cross country team will not host a national championship.

asking about a possible “championship” without all the teams — a “pseudo championship” of sorts.

“Just in the 24 hours since we heard this announcement, there’s been a lot of discussion and interest in, ‘Could we host?’”

Smith said. “The coaches I’ve spoken to feel the way I do. If we can do this and have some kind of competitive opportunity for our student-athletes without burning their eligibility, we want to do it.”

Although Smith still hopes to be able to race in the fall season, his No. 1 concern is his runners’ eligibility.

He doesn’t want to run

this season and lose a year of eligibility and not be able to compete in the most important races of the season.

“We are going to figure out some way to have a competitive season this fall, and then maybe a NCAA championship season in the winter or spring,” Smith said. “So I told them we are going to run a 10,000-meter race with the men, and 6,000-meter race for the women on our home course on Nov. 21 whether it’s just us or us and a couple other schools in a scrimmage or in some limited season that does not burn eligibility.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

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SPORTS

Fans react to Boone Pickens Stadium opening Jared A’latorre Staff reporter @Ocolly

There were mixed responses on Boone Pickens Stadium reopening for the 2020 football season.

There have been responses to fans feeling OK about attending the stadium to fans not participating despite making frequent appearances.

In an O’Colly Sports poll on Twitter, 70.4% of people say they feel safe going to OSU football

games this fall, 29.6% of people said they don’t feel safe.

Mac Ramsey, a passionate college football fan, feels that steps are being taken to stay safe but questions the stadium’s effort.

“As much as I love college football, and specifically okstate football, I don’t see any way for them to responsibly host sporting events of that magnitude, Ramsey said.

Canceling tailgating is a good first step, but I don’t think that’s

enough.

John Engle, a season ticket holder, is planning to attend the stadium this year.

“I’m a season ticket holder, Engle said. “I’m freaking stoked that they’re playing,

and I can’t wait to go to as many games as I’m allowed.”

OSU fans will have a much different expeience this season.

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However, another season ticket holder says the opposite. @christytx12 on Twitter gave her thoughts.

“Season ticket holder, including this season. Will not be attending games due to COVID risk.”

Luke Stephenson said that the students bring the most energy to the stadium and hopes they will have spots in attendance.

“Although I’m excited to hear fans will be allowed

to attend in some capacity, I really hope student section will still be a thing,” Stephenson said. “The students are the ones who bring the energy to the stands. Worried all the seating will be taken up by season ticket holders.”

While there’s still a month until OSU’s home opener against Tulsa, Alex Davis thinks there will be different guidelines in place on Sept. 12 compared to today.

“I am very skeptical that fans will

actually be allowed come game time,” Davis said.

A season ticket holder for over a decade, Jerod Costner said that fans attending the stadium isn’t even the worst thing.

“Season ticket holder for 15 years, and I will not be attending any games,” Costner said. “It’s foolish to allow fans and even more foolish to allow the concessions to be open. sports.ed@ocolly. com

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Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 Storied December shelf dweller 4 Kind of gun that catches speeders 9 Burning crime 14 Pooh pal in a pouch 15 Spanish month 16 Colorful tank fish 17 Cow call 18 Baked mac and cheese, for many 20 When an afterlunch meeting might start 22 Blender maker 23 Deux halved 24 Ones paid to play 26 Something that affects a result 28 Hit pay dirt 33 Issue, as light 34 Memo opening words 35 Kid’s bear 39 Willy Wonka portrayer Wilder 40 Doctor’s order?

42 __ avis 43 Leading the league 45 Plant stem joint 46 Of the mouth 47 “Aladdin” song whose title lyric follows “You ain’t never had a” 50 Social blunders 53 Carded at the door, briefly 54 Christian sch. in Tulsa 55 One way to read 59 TV host Gibbons 62 Buried record for future generations 65 OED book, e.g.

66 Newborn’s lack, usually 67 Big name in racing 68 With 60-Down, on one’s game ... and hint to the start of this puzzle’s longest answers 69 Analyze, as ore 70 Fills fully 71 “__ Misérables”

8/17/20

By Amy Johnson

DOWN 1 Funny Bombeck 2 Pirate’s take 3 Clue in the mud 4 Fix dinner?

5 15-Across starts it 6 Free game version, maybe 7 Lab greetings 8 Word with square or cube 9 What opposites do, it’s said 10 NBA official 11 Dark beer 12 Maine campus town 13 Consumer advocate Ralph 19 APR-reducing loan 21 Bad loan, to an accountant 25 Cinco y uno 27 Nation within Oklahoma 28 Utah lily 29 IRS enforcers 30 Silly 31 Test for fit in the changing room 32 Double-check, as totals

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 Stunt double, e.g.

37 Wee bit o’ whisky, say 38 Clinton’s alma mater 41 Prefix with pad 44 Holier-than-thou 48 Puerto Rico, por ejemplo 49 Loafers 50 “I __ go!”: “Ciao!”

51 Astrological Ram

8/17/20

52 Running on __: weary 56 Numbered work 57 Ensign-in-training inst.

58 Tidy up a bit 60 See 68-Across 61 Woeful cry 63 LAX calculation 64 “To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper

Daily Horoscope

By Nancy Black Tribune Content Agency Todays Birthday (08/17/20). Your health and work grow stronger this year.

Consistent routines win. Business changes abound. Tranquility soothes and stimulates your creativity and invention this summer, motivating powerful healthy advances. Explore uncharted social terrain this winter, to discover new passion and strengthen old bonds. Follow your heart song.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

Aries (March 21-April 19) — Today is a 7 — Relax and stick to safe, reliable fun. Choose what’s best for family. Secrets get revealed; communication leads to positive action. Transparency and authenticity wins.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) — Today is a 7 — Strengthen domestic infrastructure for family benefit. Soothe ruffled feathers. Provide a stable home base. Coordinate actions for a satisfying improvement. Increase the harmony level.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) — Today is an 8 — Don’t react without thinking. Your words can go farther than anticipated. Speak with diplomacy.

Conclude agreements in private. Disagree respectfully. Discover hidden opportunities in conversation.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Today is a 9 — Stick to your budget. You can get whatever you need. Study the situation objectively. Adapt to unexpected circumstances. Align words and actions for lucrative gains.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) — Today is a 9 — You’re getting stronger. Reassess the situation. Plan your moves in detail, coordinate with those involved, and then go for it. Take advantage of revelations.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — Today is a 7 — Meditate on the best route forward. Look back for insight on the road ahead. Notice dreams and meaningful signs. Use brains, not brawn.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Today is an 8 — Revise your team strategies for changes. You’re making a good impression. Coordinate and plot your moves, and then do your part to advance the cause.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) — Today is an 8 — A professional challenge has your focus. Review data and clarify the facts. Sift for the underlying truth to advance. Creative solutions arise in conversation.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) — Today is a 7 — Investigate options.

Listen to considerations before venturing out. An exploration beckons, yet conditions may require adaptation. Resolve details. Discover new corners of somewhere familiar.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) — Today is an 8 — Coordinate and communicate to navigate shared financial changes. Find new income sources and profitable opportunities. Trust, but verify. Get terms in writing. Discuss developments.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) — Today is an 8 — Creative collaboration can illuminate brilliant new ideas and opportunities. Listen, discuss and strategize. Avoid risky business. Prioritize love over money. Family comes first.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — Today is an 8 — Revise plans to adapt to shifting circumstances around work, health and fitness. Orders come from on high. Listen carefully to reduce confusion. Update routines and practices.

Level 1

2

3

4

8/17/20

Solution to Saturday’s puzzle

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9.

For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit sudoku.org.uk

© 2020 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.

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