Google developed free Apps for Education—a suite of tools that included Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Classroom.

In 2014, students in California who used Apps for Education sued Google, accusing the company of scanning millions of emails sent to and received by the students.

A nongovernmental organization- the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), asserted that Google’s practice violated FERPA and advocated for the Department of Education to investigate the company.

Soon after the lawsuit was filed, Google agreed to change its business practices to ensure that the information in the emails could not be used for commercial purposes.

During the period when the lawsuit was pending against Google, the Department of Education issued guidelines to assist in explaining how FERPA applied in the online arena.