Illinois § 10

§ 10.

Prohibited inquiry. (a) It is unlawful for a post-secondary school to request or require a student or his or her parent or guardian to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student's account or profile on a social networking website or to demand access in any manner to a student's account or profile on a social networking website. (b) Nothing in this Section limits a post-secondary school's right to do the following: (1) promulgate and maintain lawful school policies governing the use of the post-secondary school's electronic equipment, including policies regarding Internet use, social networking website use, and electronic mail use; and (2) monitor usage of the post-secondary school's electronic equipment and the post-secondary school's electronic mail without requesting or requiring a student to provide a password or other related account information in order to gain access to the student's account or profile on a social networking website. (c) Nothing in this Section prohibits a post-secondary school from obtaining information about a student that is in the public domain or that is otherwise obtained in compliance with this Act. (d) This Section does not prohibit a post-secondary school from conducting an investigation or requiring a student to cooperate in an investigation if there is specific information about activity on the student's account on a social networking website that violates a school disciplinary rule or policy. In the course of an investigation, the student may be required to share the content that is reported in order to make a factual determination. (Source: P.A. 98-129, eff. 1-1-14; 99-460, eff. 8-25-15.)