Gen Z-er here. I really appreciate that the EFF is writing a guide aimed at students. I was in high school only a few years ago, we were provided MacBook Pros (

Gen Z-er here. I really appreciate that the EFF is writing a guide aimed at students. I was in high school only a few years ago, we were provided MacBook Pros (13-inch, mid-2012), which for me also served as my personal laptop (my own MBP had a failing hard drive). After a few weeks of using it in classes, I realized that none of the class activities required exotic software I couldn't figure out how to obtain, so I formatted the disk and reinstalled macOS (even though we had admin, I booted into recovery instead). For my younger sibling, who was in middle school at the time, they did not have admin access and there was a surveillance software that allowed the teacher to view their screen (and god knows what else), I decided to protect their privacy as well and reinstall the OS. This got me into a bit of trouble (for modifying "someone else's computer"), but to no long-term harm, and when they reinstalled the OS with the software I removed it again anyway. EDIT: I also randomized my MAC address while using the school network using a script I wrote during a free period[0] The worrying bit is that most gen-Zers have a radically different and weakened view of digital privacy. They are more than happy to use services with bad privacy track records just because "their friends are on it", network effects trump everything else. They self-censor constantly and mistakenly think that perceived impermanence (e.g. Snapchats, or Instagram stories) means things would be deleted forever. They happily share passwords with romantic partners, even viewing grades (!) (despite constant stories of blackmailing after breaking up), constantly reuse passwords, don't have TFA, the list goes on. Out of convenience, secondary schools use services like GSuite, but in doing so they condition the next generation of people to increasingly give up their privacy. At one point I tried to deactivate my Facebook account, but the day after, ran into problems because my clubs were using it as a proto-Slack platform, so I bit the bullet and continued using it. Now that many of us are in university, the surveillance gets more ridiculous, especially in a pandemic. Most notably, I've heard friends complain of software that tracks your eye and body movement, audio, video and screen while taking a test. Fortunately for me the most I've had to do is join a Zoom call while the (human) professor proctors. More hacker culture-minded types take more precautions, but it is sadly an extremely minority opinion, IME. [0] https://gist.github.com/siraben/c3133b39e470d1aed16fd71f42b8f273 https://gist.github.com/siraben/c3133b39e470d1aed16fd71f42b8...