Student Privacy's History of Unintended Consequences

The U.S. student privacy legal landscape over the past 45 years tells a story of unintended consequences that have required legislative clarifications and changes. This story makes a case for nuance and careful deliberation in drafting laws and creating a long-term culture of privacy that addresses real or potential harms, rather than responding to unfounded fears. Accordingly, this article examines the passage of the first major U.S. privacy law, FERPA. This article addresses the initial student privacy concerns that led to FERPA and its unintended consequences, as well as the concerns about and unintended consequences from the more than one-hundred new student privacy laws passed 40 years after FERPA. By analyzing the lessons from FERPA’s first amendment and changes in recent student privacy laws, the article proposes strategies to avoid certain unintended consequences in privacy legislation