FTC Says Survey Firms Won’t Sell Student Data

Two marketing firms that survey millions of college-bound students have agreed not to secretly sell the results to credit-card marketers, U.S. regulators said Wednesday.

The two firms led high school students to believe that their personal information would be shared only with colleges but in fact sold their lists to credit-card companies, advertising agencies and direct marketers, according to a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

American Student List and the National Research Center for College and University Admissions agreed not to sell their existing lists to commercial operators, and to fix their privacy statements in future surveys to reveal how they use students’ information, according to a tentative settlement announced by the FTC.

The two firms did not admit guilt and will not give back profits or pay other penalties, but will face fines of up to $11,000 per count if they violate the agreement.

The surveys, distributed to millions of students since 1988, asked recipients to provide their name, address, grade-point average, sex, race, religion and personal interests.

The surveys’ privacy statement said the data would be used by colleges, universities and “other organizations.”

Howard Beales, head of the FTC’s consumer-protection division, said the statement led students, teachers and guidance counselors to believe that the surveys would be shared with colleges only for recruiting purposes.

“A privacy policy should shine light on a company’s information practices, not obscure them,” Beales said.