Privacy and Security in E-Learning

For a variety of advantages, universities and other organizations are resorting to e-learning to provide instruction on-line. While many advances have been made in the mechanics of providing online instruction, the needs for privacy and security have to-date been largely ignored. This paper examines privacy and security issues associated with e-learning. It presents the basic principles behind privacy practices and legislation. It investigates the more popular e-learning standards to determine their provisions and limitations for privacy and security. Privacy requirements for e-learning systems are explored with respect to the “Privacy Principles”. The capabilities of a number of existing privacy enhancing technologies, including methods for network privacy, policy-based privacy/security management, and trust systems, are reviewed and assessed.