Computer programs monitor students’ every word in the name of safety.
Computer programs monitor students’ every word in the name of safety.
No one ever questions these things. "It's for the kids!" is the one argument that'll lead us all to damnation.
'As children grow up they become more independent', apparently privacy doesn't apply in this case. I'm sure some students are annoyed at that fact that people trust them less and less.
This article feels pretty disingenuous to me.
It glosses over the fact that this is surveillance on computers that the school owns. This isn't them spying on kids personal laptops or phones. This is them exercising reasonable and appropriate oversight of school equipment.
This is the same as complaining that my job puts a filter on my work computer that lets them know if I'm googling porn at work. You can cry big brother all you want, but I think most people are fine with the idea that the corporation I work for has a reasonable case for putting monitoring software on the computer they gave me.
The article also makes the point that, while the companies claim they've stopped many school shootings before they've happened, you can't prove they would have happened without intervention.
And sure. That's technically true. But the article then goes on to treat that assertion as if it's proof that the product is worthless and has never prevented a school shooting, and that's just bad logic.
It's like saying that your alarm clock has woken you up 100 days in a row, and then being like, "well, there's no proof that you wouldn't have woken up on time anyway, even if the alarm wasn't there." Yeah, sure. You can't prove a negative. Maybe I would usually wake up without it. I've got a pretty good sleep schedule after all. But the idea that all 100 are false positives seems a little asinine, no? We don't think it was effective even once?
This is the same as complaining that my job puts a filter on my work computer that lets them know if I’m googling porn at work. You can cry big brother all you want, but I think most people are fine with the idea that the corporation I work for has a reasonable case for putting monitoring software on the computer they gave me.
European point of view: My work computer and the network in general has filters so I can't access porn, gambling, malware and other stuff on it. It has monitoring for viruses and malware, that's pretty normal and well understood need to have. BUT. It is straight up illegal for my work to actively monitor my email content (they'll of course have filtering for incoming spam and such), my chats on teams/whatever and in general be intrusive of my privacy even at work.
There's of course mechanisms in place where they can access my email if anyting work related requires that. So in case I'm laying in a hospital or something they are allowed to read work related emails from my inbox, but if there's anything personal it's protected by the same laws which apply to traditional letters and other communication.
Monitoring 'every word' is just not allowed, no matter how good your intentions are. And that's a good thing.
Yeah, but last time this happened, they did spy on the kids inappropriately. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams
You say "the last time this happened" as if this wasn't a generalized trend across all schooling for the past decade or so.
Out of the tens of thousands of schools implementing systems like this, I'm not surprised that one had some letch who was spying on kids via webcam.
And I'm all for having increased forms of oversight and protection to prevent that kind of abuse.
But this argument is just as much of a "won't someone think of the children" as the opposite. Just cause one school out of thousands did a bad thing, doesn't mean the tech is worthless or bad.
Counter point: when this isnt an obscure thing, and kids are aware of it, they will purposefully use trigger words because they are kids.
If kids/people are having mental health issues, whats the best way to handle that? By scanning for the symptom and telling them to stop being mentally troubled? I really doubt kids are getting the care they need based on these flags. Seems like a bandaid for cultural/systemic issues that cause the mental illness/harm.
Sure, maybe, but I'd also say you shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Yes, we should absolutely have better mental healthcare safety nets. Yes, false positives are probably a pretty common prank.
But this isn't a zero sum game. This can work on tandem with a therapist/counsellor to try and identify someone before they shoot up a school and get them help. This might let the staff know a kid is struggling with suicidal ideation before they find the kid OD'd on moms sleeping pills.
In an ideal world would this be unnecessary? Absolutely. But we don't live in that ideal world.
This conversation seems to come up every now and again and lemmy seems to split between two camps:
- students, especially low income students who can't afford their own devices, will use devices to do things kids do (yes, this includes porn)
- schools, as part of their duty to provide a safe learning environment, have a responsibility to provide some level of filtering and content monitoring
Where that line gets drawn has to be an active conversation between schools, parents, and students. But this conversation often delves into "BuT tHiNk Of ThE cHiLdReN!"
This is the same as complaining that my job puts a filter on my work computer that lets them know if I'm googling porn at work.
That is an extreme leap what the fuck.
Network filters that block certain domains.
Vs
Key logger that tracks everything you type into the computer, even things you’ve deleted.
There's an older story where the system admin was spying on kids in their own homes through the webcam using similar software.
I hope that person is in jail.
Unfortunately not
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/610k-settlement-in-school-webcam-spy-case/
This tells me they are less interested in the well being of the students as they are in intercepting the trajedy and drama that become symptoms of students in dysfunctional circumstances.
"Just think of the kids!"