California moves to silence Stanford researchers who got data to study education
It doesn't seem entirely unreasonable that if a school system gives a researcher access to data that isn't shared with the public, the researcher agrees not to use that information to sue the school system. Such agreements would allow the school system to be more free to share information.The issue here seems to be that the school system is saying that the researchers aren't allowed to be a witness in any lawsuit against the school system regardless of whether it has to do with the data that was shared with the researchers.I think a bigger issue is whether the school system should be allowed to keep any information private in the first place. If the information can safely be shared with a particular researcher then it seems like there is minimal benefit to society in letting the school system pick and choose who gets access and who doesn't.