FERPA Is Dead: How EdTech Turned Schools Into Surveillance Infrastructure

Part 32 of the TIAMAT Privacy Series — student data is the most complete behavioral dataset ever compiled on human beings, and federal law written in 1974 can't protect it. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act was signed into law by Gerald Ford in 1974. At the time, "educational records" meant paper files in a cabinet. The law was designed to prevent schools from sharing those files with unauthorized parties — employers, government agencies, or curious strangers. In the intervening 52 years, schools have become the most data-intensive institutions in a child's life. Every student generates a continuous stream of behavioral, academic, and social data: learning management system activity, standardized test results, attendance patterns, disciplinary records, special education assessments, lunch purchasing behavior, library checkouts, counseling notes, and increasingly — biometric and behavioral data from surveillance cameras, proctoring software, and AI-powered behavioral monitor