Amelia Vance is a globally recognized expert in child and student privacy and Founder and President of the Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. Amelia has taught privacy law and EU data protection at William & Mary Law School since 2022, and previously taught at Penn State Law. 

For over a decade, Amelia has provided practical expertise and resources to youth, parents, policymakers, government agencies, advocates, and companies to implement ethical privacy safeguards that protect children without limiting their opportunities. She is one of the foremost experts on child and student privacy law in the United States, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and state child and student privacy laws. Her career is centered on navigating the intricate interplay between legal mandates, technological capabilities, ethical considerations, and implementation challenges related to ensuring the responsible use of child and student data. Whether teaching, crafting resources that translate complex policies into actionable tools, or facilitating conversations between stakeholders, her goal is always to empower individuals with knowledge and support evidence-based decision-making.

Amelia has testified multiple times before Congress and state legislatures, presented at Federal Trade Commission and Department of Education events, and is a frequent speaker at conferences in the US and abroad. Amelia has published over 50 resources on child and student privacy, including co-authoring the chapter “A Practical Guide to Complying with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act” in the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ textbook on Children’s Privacy and Safety; “Student Privacy’s History of Unintended Consequences” in the Seton Hall Legislative Journal; PIPC’s ongoing series on “Fixing FERPA;” Teaching privacy and ethical guardrails for the AI imperative in education” for the New South Wales Department of Education in Australia; and “The Privacy and Equity Implications of Using Self-Harm Monitoring Technologies: Recommendations for Schools” at the Future of Privacy Forum. She is regularly cited in the press. 

Amelia has served on multiple advisory boards, including the OECD working group providing consultation to discuss revising the OECD Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment, the New York State Education Department Data Privacy Advisory Council, the Maryland Student Privacy Council, and the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) Legal Advisory Workgroup. As a founder and co-chair of the Federal Education Privacy Coalition, Amelia works with education membership associations nationwide to advance principled student privacy practices. She also provides privacy support to Scientific and Engineering Technical Assistance for Education R&D (SETA-ED) and staffs the Student & Child Privacy Center at AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

Amelia previously led child and student privacy programs at the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), and AASA, the School Superintendents Association. Amelia is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the International Association of Privacy Professionals.