Legal Question in Technology Law in Illinois

Hi, I am a senior in high school and have just started up my own service. It essentially polls our online grade/student website called Skyward and checks for newly posted grades. If some are found, then students registered with the service get notified through text.

When signing up, students are notified that the service will obtain access to all information Skyward may present (this can include basic school student information such as name, phone numbers, email addresses, emergency contacts, grades, and so on). They then provide their Skyward username and password, along with phone number, and are processed to be part of the service.

Because Skyward is a universal system for schools, and not only does my district use it, I want to eventually open up access to the service so that all districts in the U.S. can use it. I was also thinking about setting up a system of text advertisements as I need a way to produce income as I am soon to enter college (and obviously, college is expensive nowadays).

My friends suggested I talk to a lawyer to get some advice. Would any of this be possible legal trouble? What are some ways I can avoid any legal trouble - say add a confirmation page where students confirm their knowledge of what is going on and what the service can access?

Any more information can provided upon request, and an active website/service is currently up and running if needed to be looked at.

Thanks in advance,

Mark


Asked on 4/19/12, 1:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
ERIC WACHSPRESS ERIC S. WACHSPRESS ATTORNEY-AT-LAW

Mark, SKYWARD appears to be, from its website, a management information system intended to be used by school districts. One of its functions, from its website, is "keeping timely and accurate records of their students' grades and progress." Your system makes the information found on SKYWARD available to students. If the information available on SKYWARD is not currently accessible by students, it would appear that you have "hacked" that system. Providing posted grade information to students, if not otherwise available from SKYWARD, may be a useful service, but there would be licensing issues with SKYWARD, permission issues from school administrators and privacy issues for all parties involved. In addition, if what you have done would be considered a "hack" by SKYWARD or by your school, you could be facing both criminal and civil liability.

I would need more information to advise you and, after the first hour, I bill for my services.

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Answered on 4/20/12, 10:45 am


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