Make a small abstract painting. Hang it in background. Now if proctorio records video of you they are violating the copyright of your painting. Sue for ONE BILLION DOLLARS!
An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
21–30 of 47 posts
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a little more sympathetic. I took the GRE this summer. Because of the pandemic, I used ETS's new (and temporary) at-home testing option. Someone from ProctorU watched me through my webcam the whole time, and it felt totally invasive and creepy. But, what else was the ETS supposed to do? For a high-stakes exam like the GRE, I don't think "trust people to not cheat" is a viable option. That isn't to say these remot…
>That isn't to say these remote proctoring solutions will necessarily prevent cheating either (and having now used one of these services, I think cheating would have been relatively easy), but it at least should make test takers think twice. Sounds like security theater. >I think we can all agree that an in-person exam would have been better, but the state of the world made that untenable. Why not? Just rent out a la…
> Sounds like security theater.
I think a bit of security theater is exactly what's called for in this scenario.
This isn't like hacking into a computer network, or bringing an explosive onto an airplane, where one dedicated bad actor can defeat the system for everyone. It's much closer to something like shoplifting, where your goal is to make instances of bad behavior as low as possible, given other constraints. A security camera does not need to be 100% effective to be worth installing—and doesn't even necessarily need to be turned on.
A remotely-administered multiple-choice test is like a retail store without any staff, which asks customers to kindly leave money in a basket. You're much better off with even a single cashier, and even one who spends most of their day watching Netflix.
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
They aren't invasive physiological analyzers, and they aren't assessing honesty, they are detecting behaviors, so no.
They are not invasive to your body, but they are invasive into your home/environment. And does the law require it to be "invasive"? I don't see this in the section that was quoted in GP.
Exactly -- and who knows how invasive these programs are. We have no idea how they work because the companies keep the code private. They could be using the microphone, video camera, keystrokes, mouse movements etc, to feed some dubious pseudoscientific code to predict "cheating" and we're entirely reliant on their claims of robustness of it all--that troubles me.
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a little more sympathetic. I took the GRE this summer. Because of the pandemic, I used ETS's new (and temporary) at-home testing option. Someone from ProctorU watched me through my webcam the whole time, and it felt totally invasive and creepy. But, what else was the ETS supposed to do? For a high-stakes exam like the GRE, I don't think "trust people to not cheat" is a viable option. That isn't to say these remot…
>That isn't to say these remote proctoring solutions will necessarily prevent cheating either (and having now used one of these services, I think cheating would have been relatively easy), but it at least should make test takers think twice. Sounds like security theater. >I think we can all agree that an in-person exam would have been better, but the state of the world made that untenable. Why not? Just rent out a la…
> the real reason
... has been discussed at length by people with direct knowledge. E.g. Dr. David Joyner. In-person proctoring works for a niche set of situations but leaves a lot of other students unable to participate.
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#25Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#26Proctorio's support is also fucking absurd! It reflects their CEO's attitude in that article.
I had an issue where their plugin, which only worked on chrome at the time IDK if that has changed, stopped working. And I had about 1 hour before my final exam.
They went through the normal expected steps, then started recommending crazy shit! For example, they recommended that I delete all my bookmarks from my browser and "see if that works". And if it didn't, to re-install the operating system. Their other recommendation was to go buy another laptop -- in an hour!
Then, they basically just said ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I understand that there is only so much a phone tech can do in that situation, but these exams are very, very important. I am not sure I would have been able to get a waiver to take it at another time and could have ruined my GPA and been out thousands of dollars. Luckily I got it working on another computer that I had, so everything worked out in the end.
I am not a fan!
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
They aren't invasive physiological analyzers, and they aren't assessing honesty, they are detecting behaviors, so no.
Detecting behaviors to assess what though? Isn't that exactly what a lie detector does? It claims to detect electrical signals of behaviors (stress) and then that goes to determine if the person is honest.
A lie detector does (claim to) not detect facts. It (claims to) detect psychological states via its physiological measurements, which is obviously what the law is talking about.
No one would claim that fact-checking statements is a "lie detector" under this law.
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#28Why anyone would pay these folks anything is beyond me. While cheating is certainly a thing, and easier to do online, violating people's personal space and trusting in some average behavior BS to flag things as suspicious does not seem worth the cost. Add in ridiculous behavior by the company, if I were an educational institution I'd stay far away from these people. I remember reading about something similar being us…
I'm a little more sympathetic. I took the GRE this summer. Because of the pandemic, I used ETS's new (and temporary) at-home testing option. Someone from ProctorU watched me through my webcam the whole time, and it felt totally invasive and creepy. But, what else was the ETS supposed to do? For a high-stakes exam like the GRE, I don't think "trust people to not cheat" is a viable option. That isn't to say these remot…
Why is a webcam more invasive and creepy than holding your entire body hostage at a testing location?
Only because you haven't taken the time to make sure your personal testing location is prelared for public viewing, since usually you don't have to worry about that.
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
>That isn't to say these remote proctoring solutions will necessarily prevent cheating either (and having now used one of these services, I think cheating would have been relatively easy), but it at least should make test takers think twice. Sounds like security theater. >I think we can all agree that an in-person exam would have been better, but the state of the world made that untenable. Why not? Just rent out a la…
> Sounds like security theater. I think a bit of security theater is exactly what's called for in this scenario. This isn't like hacking into a computer network, or bringing an explosive onto an airplane, where one dedicated bad actor can defeat the system for everyone. It's much closer to something like shoplifting, where your goal is to make instances of bad behavior as low as possible, given other constraints. A s…
People may not die if I cheat on my exam, but casting doubt on the accuracy of the results by eroding trust in the examination process certainly affects all who took the exam when they end up not getting a job.
Re: An Exam Surveillance Company Is Trying to Silence Critics with Lawsuits
#30I wonder if the real issue is the format of the exams itself.
Caltech had take-home exams for a long time and students still adhere to the honor code.
We have pretty good tools for plagiarism detection. It's time to shift from rote learning exams to another format (essay, lab assignments for computer science). Else it's simply an arm race for cheating (soon some kid will just get an e-ink display in a picture frame and as soon as it goes out of the proctor's webcam field of view will turn into a cheat sheet).