WVU Privacy Policy

The purpose of this petition is to convince West Virginia University (WVU) to change its privacy policy[1] regarding students' personal information (such as full names, email addresses, and street addresses). By default, the University's "directory[2] may show any information that you have put on record with [WVU] ... unless you had marked it as confidential[3]". I urge all readers to view the directory to see which, if any, of their personal information is visible to ANYONE with internet access.

1 - http://mixinfo.wvu.edu/mix_privacy_policy
2 - http://directory.wvu.edu/
3 - OIT incident ref#24-315161

Currently, the only way to remove your information from this directory is to contact Admissions and Records and request that it be treated as confidential[3]. This is backward and unacceptable. Students' personal information should be treated with care and respect; a student's information should NEVER be made available to the public without his or her express permission.

We earnestly request that WVU treat students' personal information as CONFIDENTIAL by default.

(A note to readers: although an email adress is required to sign this petition, it will NOT be displayed to the public unless you decide to share it. I suggest using Mailinator or similar. Names will be displayed; you do not have to provide your full name. Comments are strictly optional but encouraged. Users are also allowed to add tags to this petition.)