FERPA was originally drafted in a time where the technology choices of the day were limited, and one of the principle means for offering one's authenticity was that of a wet signature. The Act required the hand-written signature of the requester before records could be released. Mail was the common carrier for these requests. Prior to a total reexamination of authenticity requirements, requesters could use facsimile machine to substitute for the mail carrier. However, the request still required a hand written signature.
In the late nineties, the U.S. government embraced the electronic age, and that resulted in the passing of many laws that enabled the use of electronic signatures. Accordingly, FERPA enabling regulations were updated. Fast forward a decade later, where the actual output of the record is more often than not in electronic form as well, it makes sense to take advantage of solid electronic authenticity technics that are permissible under the regulations.
In the final presentation of AACRAO Tech, LeRoy Rooker, the former director of the U.S. Department of Education's Family Policy and Compliance Office for twenty years and now an AACRAO senior fellow, will review the changes in the regulations permitting electronic signatures, and Tom Black, Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs and University Registrar, Stanford University, will share what authentication techniques Stanford and many other universities use and where you might see these techniques used, especially with third party services.
Click here to register for the Conference.