College Board Sued for Soliciting and Selling Students’ Personal Information
On December 10, 2019, an Illinois parent identified as “Mark S.” filed a class action lawsuit against College Board for soliciting and selling personal information from minor students taking College Board’s standardized tests.
The 38-page complaint, filed in US District Court, District of Northern Illinois, Eastern Division, alleges the following (from the introduction of the case):
Every year, hundreds of thousands of students in Illinois and millions of students across the United States take one or more standardized tests provided by Defendant College Board –including, the SAT, PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, PSAT 8/9and Advanced Placement Exams(“AP Exams”)(collectively, the “Standardized Tests”). While students were made to believe the results of these tests would significantly impact their futures, to Defendant College Board the tests served a wholly different purpose–i.e., to obtain highly valuable personal student information. Defendant College Board obtained the students’ personal information through the use of unfair and deceptive practices such as: (a) misrepresenting that it did not sell the information; (b) falsely claiming that the personal information would“[g]uide your counselors in helping you plan your future”; and (c) preying on students’ hopes and fears by making it appear that providing the information could assist with college acceptance and financial aid while not providing the information would be detrimental to those goals–when in fact, neither scenario was true. As Defendant College Board has admitted, whether a student provided the information did not impact his chance of being accepted into colleges or scholarship programs in any way.
College Board’s solicitation of the student information in question occurs via completion of its “Student Search Service” section, which students are asked to CONTINUE READING: College Board Sued for Soliciting and Selling Students’ Personal Information | deutsch29
