“ESSENTIALLY MALWA CONCERNS ABOUT STUYVESA
By MADDY ANDERSE Some Stuyvesant teachers are requiring students to install test proctoring software that experts claim could threaten their privacy and security. Students download the software, called LockDown Browser, off the internet and install it on their computer. Once installed, teachers can create tests through the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) Classroom or Jupiter Ed’s Juno Pods that can only be taken in the browser. Once students open the browser, it disables certain system functions, like the menu toolbar and some shortcuts, and takes over the screen. A blog post on the manufacturer’s site boasts about its “direct access” to the computer and operating system. It’s this kind of access that has some privacy experts worried. “This software is essentially malware or academic stalkerware. It’s deeply invasive and allows school administrators to violate students’ privacy rights, but it’s also an enormous security threat. Universities are setting themselves up for massive student data breaches, lawsuits, and worse if they continue in this direction of forcing students to install dangerous surveillance software on their computers in order to get an education,” Evan Greer, Deputy Director of Fight for the Future, a digital rights non-profit, said in an e-mail interview. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, another digital privacy group, shared similar concerns. Dr. Sean Lawson, Associate Professor at the University of Utah and Non-Resident Fellow at Marine Corps University, described how this kind of software could put students at risk. “The more intrusive forms of proctoring software are similar to malware in terms of the amount of personal information to which they potentially give access,” he said in an e-mail interview. The software is manufactured by
Respondus, an educational technology company based in Washington State. Respondus Chief Executive Officer David Smetters disputed the characterization of its software as malware. “Embodied in the very definition of spyware and malware is the malicious intent of the creator or distributor. That certainly isn’t the case here. It’s like saying soldiers are similar to terrorists because they both use weapons,” he said in an e-mail interview. The Respondus website stresses its desire to collect as little information as possible. The page on LockDown Browser’s privacy says that personal
Monitor, records students’ webcams and behavior, claiming to use AI to detect cheating. A series of data breaches among other test proctoring companies, however, has raised concerns about the security around the data collected by these services. ProctorU confirmed that 440,000 records were stolen and leaked publicly in August. In mid-October, Verificient, the maker of another test proctoring service, ProctorTrack, was hacked and forced to disable the service. Some students have had technical issues with the software. After downloading a version of the browser, senior
“This software is essentially malware or academic stalkerware. It’s deeply invasive and allows school administrators to violate students’ privacy rights, but it’s also an enormous security threat.” —Evan Greer, Deputy Director of Fight for the Future information about students is not sent to the company except in cases where a student requests technical support or exits an assessment early. “LockDown Browser doesn’t send any information to Respondus servers, except for the two examples [on the site]. It doesn’t require a student to register at our website and it doesn’t gather information on a student during an exam session,” Smetters said. “In short, we don’t know the individual identities of LockDown Browser users.” Another more aggressive Respondus product, Respondus
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Chris Buiciuc realized the features that were supposed to be disabled only while the test was in progress, like screenshotting, were disabled all the time. Other students have had similar issues. After attempts to resolve the issue, including contacting the College Board, Buiciuc’s classmate found a solution on the internet that resolved most of the issues. He was able to install a different version of the software that “worked much better and caused no problems,” he said. The problems with his computer that remain, he said, can wait until his
