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Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

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Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#71

Post by ananonymoususer »

wanderer_ wrote: post #27

I would do the factory reset again and then not use that account anymore. If you want, you can create a new local-only account and then (this is the important part) sign in to the school Google Classroom on another browser . Install Firefox, Brave, something, and use it for the school account rather than Chrome. Chrome allows extensions installed to it to run in the background and manage the system, but another brows…

Good suggestion. If the school is requiring your child to have the chromebook, then they should pay for the thing. They don't have the right to infect any device that your child happens to log in with. So factory reset, don't log in. Then when the school complains that the child is not completing the assignments, tell them that he/she cannot do them unless the school issues a school-owned device.

A better move would be to get your child out of Chicago public schools altogether.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#72

Post by barbacoa »

MrWiffles wrote: post #60

I haven't used a Chromebook before because I've always suspected this kind of malfeasance is inevitable, but I wonder... Could you just rip out the disk device (nvme/etc) and shove a blank one in there? As long as you never used the backdoored Google account again, at least you could re-use the device for other purposes (albeit with a different OS most likely). Not optimal I agree, but could that be a viable option?…

>Could you just rip out the disk device (nvme/etc) and shove a blank one in there?

When I last owned a Chromebook the storage was soldered on the motherboard.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#73

Post by steffanA »

donohoe wrote: post #13

Have you tried to see if the Small Claims Court would work? https://ag.state.il.us/consumers/smlclaims.html Get the cost of the Chromebook, some money for your time, and then donate the Chromebook to the school since its deadweight at this point. My guess is that no one from Dept. of ed will show up and you'll get a summary judgment.

The Chromebook isn't ruined. Just do a factory reset and do not log into the school account.

I know it doesn't help the op's kids who needs the CB for school, but there is nothing being done that a factory reset can't fix.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#74

Post by josephcsible »

wanderer_ wrote: post #27

I would do the factory reset again and then not use that account anymore. If you want, you can create a new local-only account and then (this is the important part) sign in to the school Google Classroom on another browser . Install Firefox, Brave, something, and use it for the school account rather than Chrome. Chrome allows extensions installed to it to run in the background and manage the system, but another brows…

> create a new local-only account

I thought you couldn't do that on a Chromebook.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#75

Post by steffanA »

dragonwriter wrote: post #28

> Does anyone know how to refer these people to law enforcement for prosecution? You can simply look up the phone number for any law enforcement agency you want and call them. None of them are likely to do anything, however; even if there was a crime involved, they have no obligation to pursue anything, and it's almost certainly not something that is on anyone 8nnlaw enforcement’s list of priorities. What you probabl…

Prosecute for what, though? It's very common for school accounts to take over a chromebook until you remove their profile/perform factory reset.

This sounds more like a Google issue for allowing this behavior in the first place.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#76

Post by [deleted] »

js2 wrote: post #17

It seems like you should be able to sign out of the CPS managed account, then use "Add Person" to add a non-CPS managed account: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r7xOL4U9lL0qyqMIVl4eH2EM... https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/1059242?hl=en&r... For school work, login to the CPS-managed account. Otherwise login to the personal account.

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#77

Post by hunter2_ »

ccleve wrote: post #8
jeffal wrote: post #4

Good lord, just call the CPS IT helpdesk. Problem solved.

Didn't know they existed. Just called them. They said "no, it cannot be removed". They suggested signing in with a different account, but when I do that, I get the error message "This account is not allowed to sign in within this network."

Do you get that error if you try using a different account (non-MDM, for example a personal Gmail account) after a factory reset, never using* the MDM account post-reset?

* Feel free to use it in a third party browser such as Firefox or Brave, as another commenter suggested. Just don't use it for an OS login.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#78

Post by steffanA »

tragictrash wrote: post #23
turtlebits wrote: post #14

Powerwash/factory reset it and don’t sign into the school account. Ask for the school to provide a device.

I think it's now a managed device and that won't help. If he power washes it, I believe it's still locked down to the school, I could be wrong thought.

Factory reset and not logging into the account again, should fix the issue.

Re: Tell HN: My kid's school installed spyware and I can't remove it

#80

Post by trasz »

duxup wrote: post #68
trasz wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A gaping security hole is fine if it’s been introduced on purpose?

> A gaping security hole What is that?

“the system installed GoGuardian monitoring software on the Chromebook without notice or permission.”
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