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Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

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Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#11

Post by cryoshon »

if you've ever been to a middle school or a high school as a student, you know that these surveillance systems are probably already being used to crush innocent dissent.

imagine how many times you made a snide remark about a teacher or a principal to your peers in confidence. now, the target of your jeer will know that you're talking shit -- and, much like if they were to overhear trash talk about them in the hallways, they won't tolerate it. and so a bunch of harmless children will be caught in the surveillance net, and punished for normal behavior.

even worse, down the line you can be certain that state actors will gain access to the data sets produced by surveillance. then, in these kids' dossiers, they'll be marked as having anti-authoritarian tendencies as a result of their childhood discussions which were snooped on. throw in a social credit system, and someone may have a childhood remark following them for life.

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#12

Post by cheesymuffin »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #5
oyebenny wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what have we learned about private institutions? But that leaves us with homeschooling...

Homeschooling has come a long way. It’s a sacrifice, for sure, but far easier now than it was even 20 years ago.

People pick the strangest ways of resisting the system.

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#13

Post by Maximus9000 »

xfitm3 wrote: post #6
SolaceQuantum wrote: post #2

"The local Brazosport Independent School District had recently hired a company called Social Sentinel to monitor public posts from all users, including adults, on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. The company's algorithms flagged Lafrenais's tweet as a potential threat. Automated alerts were sent to the district's superintendent, chief of police, director of student services, and director of guidan…

I'm speechless. This is egregious and unacceptable. I'm thankful this kind of stuff didnt exist when I grew up.

> I'm thankful this kind of stuff didnt exist when I grew up.

If I had a nickel for every time I've heard an adult say this phrase lately, I'd be rich! Did adults used to say this phrase 30 years ago? What are we doing to ourselves and our kids?

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#14

Post by rgrieselhuber »

cheesymuffin wrote: post #12
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homeschooling has come a long way. It’s a sacrifice, for sure, but far easier now than it was even 20 years ago.

People pick the strangest ways of resisting the system.

Yeah, it is really weird to want to educate your own children.

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#15

Post by Analemma_ »

This is nasty, but the unpleasant truth is that these schools are just rationally responding to public pressure and doing CYA. Every time there's a school shooter, the first thing the parents and media do is dig through his angry Facebook posts and go, "Look at all these red flags! Why wasn't anything done?". Well, now the schools are doing something. It's not the right thing to do, and it's not going to fix anything, but getting angry at the schools isn't going to cause them to change course: they're responding to public demand. You need to start talking to parents and educating them.

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#16

Post by xfitm3 »

Maximus9000 wrote: post #13
xfitm3 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm speechless. This is egregious and unacceptable. I'm thankful this kind of stuff didnt exist when I grew up.

> I'm thankful this kind of stuff didnt exist when I grew up. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard an adult say this phrase lately, I'd be rich! Did adults used to say this phrase 30 years ago? What are we doing to ourselves and our kids?

I'm sure every generation says it - but working in tech and being a staunch advocate of privacy I can't help but think it really is different this time.

If my thoughts as a kid had been subject to outside scrutiny I don't know if I would have made it this far in life. Maybe I would've been better at hiding, but I think that is extremely detrimental to long term mental health.

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#18

Post by guitarbill »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #14
cheesymuffin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People pick the strangest ways of resisting the system.

Yeah, it is really weird to want to educate your own children.

Might as well deprive them of normal social interactions and different opinions while you're at it. Personally, I'm glad my country does not allow such nonsense and hubris. Of course, it's a straw man, you can care about your children's education in other ways, and outside of school, too.

Re: Schools Are Deploying Digital Surveillance Systems

#20

Post by Mizza »

rgrieselhuber wrote: post #14
cheesymuffin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People pick the strangest ways of resisting the system.

Yeah, it is really weird to want to educate your own children.

I see the appeal of that, but I think most of us think that the school experience is necessary for proper socialization of the kids. Personally I think that most schools are akin to prisons in many ways, but they were also the place where I forged some lifelong friendships.
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