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The real question isn't whether or not GoGuardian is installed--because the Chromebook is going to be subject to the school's policies while the student is logg

The real question isn't whether or not GoGuardian is installed--because the Chromebook is going to be subject to the school's policies while the student is logged in, assumedly doing classwork. The real question is whether or not it's being disclosed to you when you initially login to the school's domain that this software is being installed. Installing something you were given a chance to read the EULA and disclosures for is fairly reasonable, because you would have the opportunity to decline (and then they probably wouldn't be able to login to the schools network). The school using MDM to install the monitoring software _without disclosing this to the user_ would likely fall afoul of the law, because yeah if you paid for it you are the owner and what you say goes. Third parties are not allowed to install software on equipment you own without explicit permission. Additionally, to be even remotely ethical, this needs to be disclosed clearly and the first time the school login is used and the software installation is about to occur--not buried inside a school handbook somewhere. If the school has been so bold as to ignore the need to disclose that they're installing something that records and reports all web browsing activity (which GoGuardian is designed to do), or if this software applies to other logins on the system which will be used by people who did not consent to being monitored, then the school needs to start hiring _competent_ people to administrate the network, because doing this with minors involved is just really begging for a judge to slap the school system hard. The school system can (and should) make that policy only apply when the kid's school login is being used--so if they try to fob you off with that silly excuse, feel free to go ahead and start talking to lawyers. Google would not be amused to find some rinkydinky school administrators making claims that the attested environment used by ChromeOS may be trivially compromised by other users and thus justify installing the monitoring software to be in play all the time. Rather a lot of work has gone into creating that environment.

Jon_Lowtek 5y ago
Here in Europa we have a requirement for companies and institutions to provide what is called a "privacy policy" which explain to the user, in common language, which personal data is processed, for what, by whom and why. Many lawyers are doing these wrong and try to sell an unintelligible mess of legal text, while the law actually demands that the user can easily understand it. The european laws are especially serious about that, if the users are children. A school in europa would need to explain GoGuardian both to the children and the parents. Things like "monitoring all browser history, social network activity, logging all keystrokes, accessing all files and remotely enabling cameras and microphones" should raise some eyebrows and have parents ask unpleasant follow up questions. Also the "for what and why" parts are enforceable limits, any undisclosed processing is illegal. In contrast, Illinois has pretty much no data privacy laws at all, with PIPA being one of the worst globally. Talking to the school, local and regional governance about data privacy concerns can help, but US citizens need to think bigger and amend the constitution with a right to data privacy. Surveillance Capitalism is already deeply entrenched in schools, showing an EULA is a start as it creates awareness, but misses the bigger problem. The tech companies selling to these schools will claim that a friendly teacher sometimes looks what the children are doing, as they should, and then collect every bit of data they can access. They will claim their big brother algorithms will help teachers support pupils with their individual problems, that they improve education and enable students, and yet society isn't becoming enlightened, it is turning into a dystopia of surveillance capitalism and gamified control. There is something wrong at a fundamental level, the USA was the bastion of liberal philosophy, individualism and human rights, and yet it is now at the forefront of data enabled neo-authoritarianism.

Jon_Lowtek 5y ago

Here in Europa we have a requirement for companies and institutions to provide what is called a "privacy policy" which explain to the user, in common language, which personal data is processed, for what, by whom and why. Many lawyers are doing these wrong and try to sell an unintelligible mess of legal text, while the law actually demands that the user can easily understand it. The european laws are especially serious about that, if the users are children. A school in europa would need to explain GoGuardian both to the children and the parents. Things like "monitoring all browser history, social network activity, logging all keystrokes, accessing all files and remotely enabling cameras and microphones" should raise some eyebrows and have parents ask unpleasant follow up questions. Also the "for what and why" parts are enforceable limits, any undisclosed processing is illegal. In contrast, Illinois has pretty much no data privacy laws at all, with PIPA being one of the worst globally. Talking to the school, local and regional governance about data privacy concerns can help, but US citizens need to think bigger and amend the constitution with a right to data privacy. Surveillance Capitalism is already deeply entrenched in schools, showing an EULA is a start as it creates awareness, but misses the bigger problem. The tech companies selling to these schools will claim that a friendly teacher sometimes looks what the children are doing, as they should, and then collect every bit of data they can access. They will claim their big brother algorithms will help teachers support pupils with their individual problems, that they improve education and enable students, and yet society isn't becoming enlightened, it is turning into a dystopia of surveillance capitalism and gamified control. There is something wrong at a fundamental level, the USA was the bastion of liberal philosophy, individualism and human rights, and yet it is now at the forefront of data enabled neo-authoritarianism.