language: en · last checked: 2026-10-08

Nebraska — Student Online Personal Protection Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§79-2,153 to 79-2,155)

Nebraska's SOPIPA-model statute, enacted by Laws 2017, LB512, §§1–3. It binds the operator of a website, online service, online application or mobile application used primarily for, and designed and marketed for, elementary, middle or high school purposes: the definitions (§79-2,154) and the prohibitions, duties and permitted uses (§79-2,155).

Neb. Rev. Stat. §79-2,153. Act, how cited

Verbatim from Nebraska Legislature — 79-2,153, reached through the Internet Archive capture taken 2026-01-02 (id_, the publisher's original bytes); see Meta.

Sections 79-2,153 to 79-2,155 shall be known and may be cited as the Student Online Personal Protection Act.

Source: Laws 2017, LB512, § 1.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §79-2,154. Terms, defined

Verbatim from Nebraska Legislature — 79-2,154, reached through the Internet Archive capture taken 2026-02-03 (id_, the publisher's original bytes); see Meta.

For purposes of the Student Online Personal Protection Act:

(1) Covered information means personally identifiable information or material or information that is linked to personally identifiable information or material in any medium or format that is not publicly available and is any of the following:

(a) Created or gathered by or provided to an operator by a student, or the student's parent or legal guardian, in the course of the student's, parent's, or legal guardian's use of the operator's site, service, or application for elementary, middle, or high school purposes;
(b) Created by or provided to an operator by an employee or agent of an elementary school, middle school, high school, or school district for elementary, middle, or high school purposes; or
(c) Gathered by an operator through the operation of its site, service, or application for elementary, middle, or high school purposes and personally identifies a student, including, but not limited to, information in the student's educational record or electronic mail, first and last name, home address, telephone number, electronic mail address, or other information that allows physical or online contact, discipline records, test results, special education data, juvenile dependency records, grades, evaluations, criminal records, medical records, health records, social security number, biometric information, disabilities, socioeconomic information, food purchases, political affiliations, religious information, text messages, documents, student identifiers, search activity, photos, voice recordings, or geolocation information;

(2) Interactive computer service has the definition found in 47 U.S.C. 230, as such section existed on January 1, 2017;

(3) Elementary, middle, or high school purposes means purposes that are directed by or that customarily take place at the direction of an elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a teacher, or a school district or that aid in the administration of school activities, including, but not limited to, instruction in the classroom or at home, administrative activities, collaboration between students, school personnel, or parents, and other purposes that are pursued for the use and benefit of the school or school district;

(4) Operator means, to the extent it is operating in this capacity, the operator of an Internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application with actual knowledge that the site, service, or application is used primarily for elementary, middle, or high school purposes and was designed and marketed for elementary, middle, or high school purposes. This term does not include Internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications operated by a postsecondary institution with a physical presence in Nebraska; and

(5) Targeted advertising means presenting advertisements to a student where the advertisement is selected based on information obtained or inferred over time from that student's online behavior, usage of applications, or covered information. It does not include advertising to a student at an online location based upon that student's current visit to that location, or in response to that student’s request for information or feedback, without the retention of that student's online activities or requests over time for the purpose of targeting subsequent advertisements.

Source: Laws 2017, LB512, § 2.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §79-2,155. Operator; prohibited acts; duties; use or disclosure of covered information; applicability of section

Verbatim from Nebraska Legislature — 79-2,155, reached through the Internet Archive capture taken 2026-02-16 (id_, the publisher's original bytes); see Meta.

(1) An operator shall not knowingly:

(a) Engage in targeted advertising on the operator's site, service, or application or targeted advertising on any other site, service, or application if the targeting of the advertising is based on any information, including covered information and persistent unique identifiers, that the operator has acquired because of the use of that operator's site, service, or application for elementary, middle, or high school purposes;
(b) Use covered information, including persistent unique identifiers, created or gathered by the operator's site, service, or application to amass a profile about a student except in furtherance of elementary, middle, or high school purposes. Amassing a profile does not include the collection and retention of account information that remains under the control of the student, the student's parent or guardian, or the elementary school, middle school, or high school;
(c) Sell or rent a student's covered information. This subdivision does not apply to (i) the purchase, merger, or other type of acquisition of an operator by another entity if the operator or successor entity complies with this section regarding such covered information or (ii) a national assessment provider if the provider secures the express written consent of the student or parent or guardian of the student given in response to clear and conspicuous notice that access to covered information shall only be provided for purposes of obtaining employment, educational scholarships, financial aid, or postsecondary educational opportunities for such student; or
(d) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, disclose covered information unless the disclosure is made for the following purposes:
- (i) In furtherance of the elementary, middle, or high school purpose of the site, service, or application, if the recipient of the covered information disclosed under this subdivision does not further disclose the covered information except to allow or improve operability and functionality of the operator's site, service, or application;
- (ii) To ensure legal and regulatory compliance or protect against liability;
- (iii) To respond to or participate in the judicial process;
- (iv) To protect the safety or integrity of users of the site or other individuals or the security of the site, service, or application;
- (v) For a school, educational, or employment purpose requested by the student or the student's parent or guardian if the covered information is not used or further disclosed for any other purpose; or
- (vi) To a third party if the operator contractually prohibits the third party from using any covered information for any purpose other than providing the contracted service to or on behalf of the operator, prohibits the third party from disclosing any covered information provided by the operator with subsequent third parties, and requires the third party to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices.

(2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the operator from using covered information for maintaining, developing, supporting, improving, or diagnosing the operator's site, service, or application.

(3) An operator shall:

(a) Implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the covered information designed to protect that covered information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure; and
(b) Delete within a reasonable time period a student's covered information if the elementary school, middle school, high school, or school district requests deletion of covered information under the control of the elementary school, middle school, high school, or school district, unless a student or parent or guardian consents to the maintenance of the covered information.

(4) An operator may use or disclose covered information of a student under the following circumstances:

(a) If other provisions of federal or state law require the operator to disclose the covered information and the operator complies with the requirements of federal and state law in protecting and disclosing such covered information;
(b) As long as no covered information is used for advertising or to amass a profile on the student for purposes other than elementary, middle, or high school purposes, for legitimate research purposes as required by state or federal law and subject to the restrictions under applicable state and federal law or as allowed by state or federal law and in furtherance of elementary, middle, or high school purposes or postsecondary educational purposes; or
(c) To state or local educational agencies, including elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and school districts, for elementary, middle, or high school purposes, as permitted by state or federal law.

(5) This section does not prohibit an operator from doing any of the following:

(a) Using covered information to improve educational products if such covered information is not associated with an identified student within the operator's site, service, or application or other sites, services, or applications owned by the operator;
(b) Using covered information that is not associated with an identified student to demonstrate or market the effectiveness of the operator's products or services;
(c) Sharing covered information that is not associated with an identified student for the development and improvement of educational sites, services, or applications;
(d) Using recommendation engines to recommend to a student either of the following:
- (i) Additional content relating to an educational, other learning, or employment opportunity purpose within an online site, service, or application if the recommendation is not determined in whole or in part by payment or other consideration from a third party; or
- (ii) Additional services relating to an educational, other learning, or employment opportunity purpose within an online site, service, or application if the recommendation is not determined in whole or in part by payment or other consideration from a third party; or
(e) Responding to a student's request for information or for feedback without the information or response being determined in whole or in part by payment or other consideration from a third party.

(6) This section does not:

(a) Limit the authority of a law enforcement agency to obtain any content or covered information from an operator as authorized by law or under a court order;
(b) Limit the ability of an operator to use student data, including covered information, for adaptive learning or customized student learning purposes;
(c) Apply to general audience Internet websites, general audience online services, general audience online applications, or general audience mobile applications, even if login credentials created for an operator's site, service, or application may be used to access those general audience sites, services, or applications;
(d) Limit service providers from providing Internet connectivity to schools or a student and his or her family;
(e) Prohibit an operator of an Internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application from marketing educational products directly to parents if the marketing did not result from the use of covered information obtained by the operator through the provision of services covered under this section;
(f) Impose a duty upon a provider of an electronic store, network gateway, marketplace, or other means of purchasing or downloading software or applications to review or enforce compliance with this section on those applications or software;
(g) Impose a duty upon a provider of an interactive computer service to review or enforce compliance with this section by third-party content providers; or
(h) Prohibit a student from downloading, exporting, transferring, saving, or maintaining his or her own student data or documents.

Source: Laws 2017, LB512, § 3.