U.S Code last checked for updates: May 07, 2024
§ 9573.
Confidentiality
(a)
In general
(b)
Student information
(c)
Confidentiality standards
(1)
In general
(A)
The Director shall develop and enforce standards designed to protect the confidentiality of persons in the collection, reporting, and publication of data under this subchapter.
(B)
This section shall not be construed to protect the confidentiality of information about institutions, organizations, and agencies that receive grants from, or have contracts or cooperative agreements with, the Federal Government.
(2)
Prohibition
No person may—
(A)
use any individually identifiable information furnished under this subchapter for any purpose other than a research, statistics, or evaluation purpose under this subchapter;
(B)
make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular person under this subchapter can be identified; or
(C)
permit anyone other than the individuals authorized by the Director to examine the individual reports.
(d)
Administration
(1)
In general
(A)
Disclosure
(B)
Immunity
(C)
Application
(2)
Employee or staff violations
(3)
Temporary staff
(4)
Information requirements
(5)
Definitions
For the purposes of this section—
(A)
the term “individually identifiable information” means any record, response form, completed survey, or aggregation thereof from which information about particular individuals may be revealed; and
(B)
the term “report” means a response provided by or about an individual to an inquiry from the Director and does not include a statistical aggregation from which individually identifiable information cannot be revealed.
(6)
Violations
(7)
Access to reports or records
(e)
Investigation and prosecution of terrorism
(1)
In general
Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b), the Attorney General (or any Federal officer or employee, in a position not lower than an Assistant Attorney General, designated by the Attorney General) may submit a written application to a court of competent jurisdiction for an ex parte order requiring the Secretary to permit the Attorney General (or his designee) to—
(A)
collect reports, records, and information (including individually identifiable information) in the possession of the Director that are relevant to an authorized investigation or prosecution of an offense listed in section 2332b(g)(5)(B) of title 18 or an act of domestic or international terrorism as defined in section 2331 of that title; and
(B)
for official purposes related to the investigation or prosecution of an offense described in paragraph (1)(A), retain, disseminate, and use (including as evidence at trial or in other administrative or judicial proceedings) such information, consistent with such guidelines as the Attorney General, after consultation with the Secretary, shall issue to protect confidentiality.
(2)
Application and approval
(A)
In general.—
An application under paragraph (1) shall certify that there are specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the information sought is described in paragraph (1)(A).
(B)
The court shall issue an order described in paragraph (1) if the court finds that the application for the order includes the certification described in subparagraph (A).
(3)
Protection
(Pub. L. 107–279, title I, § 183, title IV, § 401(a)(6), Nov. 5, 2002, 116 Stat. 1972, 1983.)
cite as: 20 USC 9573