Do University of Washington Students, Faculty, etc. know that their information is easily accessed by the public?

Schools are allowed to disclose "directory" information such as name, address, and telephone number without consent. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about this directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. It's the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

I think they should limit their access, at least not letting the public get that kind of information, now a days you look at the stuff like identity theft, etc that happens. This kind of information should only be accessible to students, affiliates and workers of the university. At least for security purposes.

Well that's my opinion, I kinda like how my university keeps information: http://uprm.edu/

Wow! Isn't there a law that schools need to keep such information private? I am sure I read something in one of my IT security/management courses that mentioned a law that would apply to such information.

I'll have to go look it up during spring break (next week)

So here is what I have found so far:

-The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232 g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a USA Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. Generally, schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record.

I also did a quick Google search and found this website that lists several laws and regulations affecting IT (schools is at the bottom).

If I find more I will ad them as I find them.