Connecticut joins consensus that school security videos are not confidential FERPA records

Connecticut has joined at least two other states in ruling that school surveillance videos can be released as public records without violating the federal FERPA privacy statute. The ruling is a win for common sense and a setback for the U.S. Department of Education's FERPA literalism.

TRANSPARENCY TUESDAY: Campus surveillance enters the drone zone

Aided by technological advances, government agencies are constantly inventing new ways to collect information -- and it was only a matter of time before "drone surveillance" made it way onto college campuses.Last week's announcement that the University of Alabama-Huntsville had acquired a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles with an eye toward equipping them with police security cameras undoubtedly sent a shiver through public urinators and weed cultivators everywhere.