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Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

theguardian.com

61–70 of 104 posts

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They said it was all ok because that the actual fingerprints aren't stored on the system, only information derived from the fingerprints I hate this blatantly flawed reasoning. The data collection is the problem, and it doesn't matter if you store pictures of fingers/faces/irises/ids or just their post-process signatures, it's still data collection.

Forcing students to generate data and then using it against them isn’t incidental to education, it’s the whole thing. Imagine having the right to edit, delete, and restrict processing of your grades and attendance records. Imagine having the right to an equal shot at college admission while declining to reveal any test scores. It would upend everything about school.

Except there's no academic value in fingerprinting kids.

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#62
post #2

>GoGuardian, a company that monitors students’ internet searches, that a student was doing a Google search for “how to kill myself” late one evening. How is it monitoring searches done at home in the evening?

School issued devices. My kids have them.

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#63
post #55
post #2

>GoGuardian, a company that monitors students’ internet searches, that a student was doing a Google search for “how to kill myself” late one evening. How is it monitoring searches done at home in the evening?

The possibility of strike back, massively trolling all the school if students team and decide to search for controversial statements all the time, everybody at the same time, or search "What to do if a teacher try to abuse sexually of me" just for fun, is fabulous. Matherial of legend. If the alarm is triggered at a higher level, the school direction will gasp and remove the program in a hurry for fear of being signa…

This. Kids are smart and the amount of ways to troll these 'ai' and 'smart systems' are endless. Hell, make a script that just searches endlessly controversial topics, and boom all that data is worthless. For every company trying to spy on these kids, theres a student who understands how these systems work and we all know how creative and open-minded younger people are.

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#64

A while back in Texas my wife and I got a lovely call from one of our children's school counselors because our child's search history the previous evening, on their school issued chrome laptop, had included a search for symptoms of cyanide poisoning which apparently triggered one of the systems used to detect those sorts of things. It turns out that the search was related to a homework assignment for a book they had…

Searches about suicide/murder-related topics could lead to life-saving interventions. One sympathizes with families that didn't or couldn't read the warning signs, and understands why they'd whole-heartedly support monitoring.

The other side is that children learn there is an intense adult response to certain topics. That may lead to excessive interest in that topic. Or ever more secretive behavior. Or an inability to challenge authority.

On one side of the balance is maybe a student's life. On the other is more students' mental health and autonomy. Life usually wins, but only history can judge whether that's wise.

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#67

It’s pretty much guaranteed that the next generation will grow up with the experience of always watched. Either they get watched by the parents who never let them do anything alone or by technology. Pretty sad in my view but almost inevitable.

I think you are right about everything but the timescale: the current generation of kids already grew up under constant surveillance...by their parents. When I grew up, during evenings weekends and holidays, kids ran around in the neighborhood with their friends from sunup to sundown. Outside of mealtimes, parents had no idea where we were. A generation later and parents started to time-box everything their kids do,…

How did the "free range" generation (before it was unusual enough to even have a name) turn into the overbearing parenting generation?

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#68
post #64

A while back in Texas my wife and I got a lovely call from one of our children's school counselors because our child's search history the previous evening, on their school issued chrome laptop, had included a search for symptoms of cyanide poisoning which apparently triggered one of the systems used to detect those sorts of things. It turns out that the search was related to a homework assignment for a book they had…

Searches about suicide/murder-related topics could lead to life-saving interventions. One sympathizes with families that didn't or couldn't read the warning signs, and understands why they'd whole-heartedly support monitoring. The other side is that children learn there is an intense adult response to certain topics. That may lead to excessive interest in that topic. Or ever more secretive behavior. Or an inability t…

Why stop with monitoring the computer? It would be easier to just plant a device to monitor thoughts and every action. Surely, this would only be used for good, and after all, it’s all about safety.

The monitoring for safety argument is merely an excuse to eliminate the right to privacy and shift the power to a government entity. Never in the history of mankind has this power ever been abused.

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#69
post #56

How can the schools just allow any free product to be installed in their systems simply because someone offered them said service or product for free. These (test subjects) are our kids. There should be boundaries set forth by the law not to allow any said system or service to collect any data on kids under a given age. I guess as long as someone offers security - it’s ok to disregard privacy.

Ahh yes, the good old protect the children argument.

Re: Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

#70
post #69
post #56

How can the schools just allow any free product to be installed in their systems simply because someone offered them said service or product for free. These (test subjects) are our kids. There should be boundaries set forth by the law not to allow any said system or service to collect any data on kids under a given age. I guess as long as someone offers security - it’s ok to disregard privacy.

Ahh yes, the good old protect the children argument.

It is funny though, because both sides use the same "think about the children" argument. One side: surveil them for their safety, and the other: do not surveil them for their safety. I omitted the reasons, just merely wanted to point out how both sides use the same argument. Personally I am in favor of less surveillance of everyone, not just kids.
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