Is Google Translate FERPA compliant in 2023?
Is Google Translate FERPA compliant for education use? No, the publicly accessible Google Translate is not compliant with The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. ยง 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99. Any school that accepts federal funding by the U.S. Department of Education must comply with FERPA or risk funding loss.
Google Workspace for Education is FERPA compliant, however it does not include the Google Translate solution. Despite this, Google Translate is widely used in education. During the Covid pandemic there was an exception for Emergency Use Authorization which ended effective May 9, 2023. Google clearly explains their products are only compliant with FERPA when using Google Workspace for Education, a paid subscription service. Google Workspace for Education does include a solution for closed captioning, for example when using Google Slides.
Resources:
- https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html
- https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/ferpa/
- https://edu.google.com/workspace-for-education/editions/education-fundamentals/
- https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/training/ferpas-complaint-process-explained
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