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Feeding the Machine?: What the Updated COPPA Rule Says About Using Children’s Data to Train Algorithms

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Feeding the Machine?: What the Updated COPPA Rule Says About Using Children’s Data to Train Algorithms December 4, 2025 Jessica Arciniega, Morgan Sexton, and Amelia Vance       CC BY-NC 4.0 When your 8-year-old plays their favorite mobile game or uses an educational app to practice math, they’re not just learning or having fun: they’re also generating valuable data. Every click, swipe, and answer creates information about how children think, learn, and behave online. Until recently, many companies were operating under the belief that they could use this data to train artificial intelligence (AI) systems with few restrictions. The […]

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AI Changes Everything: Why Student Data Review Can’t Wait Another Semester

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AI Changes Everything: Why Student Data Review Can’t Wait Another Semester October 15, 2025 Jessica Arciniega, Katherine Kalpos, Morgan Sexton, and Amelia Vance       CC BY-NC 4.0 As schools embrace the potential of AI, a critical question demands attention: How do sophisticated AI models alter what it means to protect student data? For starters, it underscores the need for schools to reassess the data they collect from students and the duration for which they retain it.  AI makes students’ sensitive information more vulnerable than ever before. Earlier this month, the Texas Attorney General filed a lawsuit against edtech

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Senate Commerce Advances COPPA 2.0, With Notable Changes

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Senate Commerce Advances COPPA 2.0, With Notable Changes July 15, 2025 Jessica Arciniega, Morgan Sexton, and Amelia Vance       CC BY-NC 4.0 On June 25th, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) was favorably reported out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Recap: What is COPPA 2.0?  COPPA 2.0 is a bill that seeks to update and strengthen safeguards in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 1998 that regulates how commercial operators can collect personal information from children under 13 (see these resources for more

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Supreme Court Upholds Age Verification: A Game-Changer for Child Online Safety Laws

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Supreme Court Upholds Age Verification: A Game-Changer for Child Online Safety Laws July 1, 2025 Jessica Arciniega, Morgan Sexton, & Amelia Vance   CC BY-NC 4.0 Introduction Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a major decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, upholding Texas’s law requiring adult websites to verify users’ ages before allowing access. While this case specifically addressed pornographic content, the ruling’s implications likely extend far beyond adult websites—potentially reshaping how courts evaluate the dozens of state laws designed to protect children online that have repeatedly been blocked by federal judges over the past several years. TLDR:

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Kids Online Safety Act Returns

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Kids Online Safety Act Returns June 2, 2025 Jessica Arciniega, Katherine Kalpos, Morgan Sexton, and Amelia Vance       CC BY-NC 4.0 The fight for a safer online experience for kids is back on the table. On May 15th, Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal reintroduced the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), bringing back the exact same proposal from December 2024. We’ve been down this road before, meticulously tracking every twist and turn. But this year, it’s time for a clean slate. This blog cuts through the noise to reveal KOSA’s core components and their potential impact on minors, parents, and

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Public Interest Privacy Center Releases Updated State Law Maps

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Press Release Public Interest Privacy Center Releases Updated State Law Maps May 29, 2025 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC) is pleased to announce the release of several updated maps outlining state student privacy laws. The updated state maps series currently includes:  Comprehensive Consumer Privacy Laws; Data from a “Known Child” as Sensitive;  Laws to Protect Children;  State Student Privacy Laws;  Cellphones in Schools Policies;  Laws Modeled on SOPIPA See the maps below!  The State Student Privacy Laws map is adapted from the Student Privacy Compass’s State Student Privacy Laws tracker.  ### About PIPC Founded

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Recapping USED’s Recent Surge in FERPA Enforcement Activities

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Recapping USED’s Recent Surge in FERPA Enforcement Activities  April 17, 2025 Morgan Sexton and Amelia Vance   CC BY-NC 4.0 The student privacy landscape has shifted dramatically in recent weeks, with the U.S. Department of Education (USED) initiating two statewide FERPA investigations in California and Maine. This blog post unpacks these investigations and shares our new infographic showing the steps in a FERPA investigation.  As always, if you have any questions feel free to contact our team! TLDR: On March 27th and 28th, the USED Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) launched two FERPA investigations of the California and Maine state

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Fixing FERPA: FERPA Must Clearly Protect All PII Accessible to Schools

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FERPA Must Clearly Protect All PII Accessible to Schools January 28, 2025 Jessica Arciniega, Katherine Kalpos, Morgan Sexton, Amelia Vance, and Casey Waughn   CC BY-NC 4.0 An eighth-grade teacher, Mr. Denning, is shown a video of one of his students, Lauren, candidly discussing her recent experience overcoming mental health struggles on Instagram. He makes a note of what Lauren said in her profile on the school’s student information system (SIS) so that the school guidance counselor can access this information when meeting with Lauren in the future. The note Mr. Denning added is protected under the Family Educational Rights

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New COPPA Update: A Setback for Schools and Student Privacy?

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New COPPA Update A Setback for Schools and Student Privacy? January 17, 2025 Morgan Sexton and Amelia Vance       CC BY-NC 4.0 Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a much-anticipated update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA Rule)–and it is not what the education community was hoping for. As you may recall, the FTC released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to update the COPPA Rule in December 2023, which included rules clarifying when schools can consent to technology use instead of parents and imposing strong contractual requirements on edtech vendors. However, the final rule

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A Kids Online Safety Bill in Time for the Holidays? It’s Possible.

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A Kids Online Safety Bill in Time for the Holidays? It’s Possible. December 9, 2024 Jessica Arciniega, Katherine Kalpos, Morgan Sexton, and Amelia Vance       CC BY-NC 4.0 Hello all, As you may recall–the Senate passed the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSPA) in July, incorporating two major student and child privacy bills–the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0). The House Energy & Commerce Committee passed different versions of KOSA and COPPA 2.0 in September, leaving questions about how these bills would proceed. This weekend, Senator Blackburn released a new version

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