THE REGULATORY EXPOSURE
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) impose strict requirements on edtech companies using AI. Non-compliance can result in:
- FERPA: Loss of federal funding and $100K per violation (34 CFR § 99.3).
- COPPA: $50K per violation for improper data collection from children under 13 (16 CFR § 312.5).
In 2024, the FTC fined an edtech company $20M for COPPA violations, signaling increased enforcement for AI in education.
STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
FERPA and COPPA mandate the following for AI in edtech:
- Parental Consent: Verifiable consent from parents for data collection from children under 13 (COPPA).
- Data Protection: Encryption and access controls for student records (FERPA).
- Immutable Audit Trails: Cryptographically logged interactions for all AI processing of student data.
- Data Retention: Records must be retained for the legally required duration and deleted upon request.
COMMON FAILURE MODES
Edtech companies encounter the following gaps:
- Lack of Consent: AI systems collecting data from children without parental consent violate COPPA.
- Manual Logging: Human-maintained records are alterable and unreliable, leaving companies vulnerable to fines.
- Black-Box AI: Systems lacking explainability or audit trails cannot prove compliance with FERPA or COPPA.
- Data Retention: Companies that fail to delete data upon request violate both FERPA and COPPA.
RTFCT MECHANISM
RTFCT ensures FERPA and COPPA compliance through:
- Forge: Immutable audit trails for all AI interactions involving student data.
- Interceptor: Enforces real-time parental consent and data protection policies at the API level.
- Sovereign Vault: Stores student data in FERPA/COPPA-compliant infrastructure with encryption.
- Gateway: Centralizes compliance reporting for FERPA, COPPA, and other edtech regulations.