Aloha Sargent had been aware of the exam surveillance company Proctorio for years. It was a frequent presence at the Online Teaching Conference (OTC), the premiere event for remote learning educators in California. Many of the state’s community colleges, including Cabrillo College, where Sargent is the co-director of the library, had also begun using the tool to proctor tests during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But this year, when she received an email from OTC organizers in early February that listed Proctorio as a diamond sponsor of the conference, she was shocked. The conference is put on in part by the California Community College system and several of the member schools, including Cabrillo College, decided not to renew their Proctorio software license in December.
The decision came amid a nationwide barrage of complaints from students arguing that the software—which surveils test takers through their computer cameras and microphones, then uses artificial intelligence to measure their “abnormalities”—is discriminatory and a gross invasion of privacy.
Like other exam monitoring software companies, Proctorio has celebrated the pandemic-induced boom in its business. It struck lucrative new deals, proctored more than 20 million exams in 2020 (triple the number in 2019, the company told Motherboard), and now boasts serving more than 1,000 schools and organizations in 170 countries.
But that success has also brought scrutiny, and there are signs that the company’s technology and treatment of critics have soured its reputation. Some of the people most likely to use Proctorio after the pandemic—online learning instructors—say the tool is harmful and not necessary to stop cheating. Schools and organizations, including some of its most prized customers, are also cutting ties and declining to renew contracts.
The day after she received the email from OTC, Sargent stepped down from her position on the conference’s proposal review committee. Several days later, she and Maritez Apigo, an English professor at Contra Costa College, announced in Twitter threads that quickly went viral that they would be boycotting OTC due to its sponsorship deal with Proctorio. On Feb. 23, OTC announced that it had decided not to offer any sponsorships to exam proctoring companies as a result of the backlash.
theZman3 on March 1st, 2021 at 18:54 UTC »
As a graduate student I’ve had extensive experience with these proctoring services, and they are most certainly an invasion of privacy and present many security concerns.
My university uses a program called ProctorU, which requires you to download a browser extension that gives proctors complete control of your computer. This includes detection of your physical location, the ability to read and change data on all websites you visit, screen recording, webcam and microphone access, enhanced behavioral analysis through machine learning, and the ability to change any and all computer settings including privacy settings. Photo submission of a government ID is also required. Allowing this level of access to any entity goes against almost every fundamental aspect of effective cyber security.
Schools seek to preserve academic integrity in remote environments through the use of these proctoring services, but any benefit that they provide is far outweighed by privacy and data security concerns. In light of the recent SolarWinds hack, in which countless government agencies were digitally infiltrated and technology leaders including Microsoft failed to prevent such a catastrophic security breach, it is foolish to believe that companies like ProctorU and Proctorio are worthy and capable of such extensive data collection without suffering the same fate as some of the most capable agencies in the world. The students have spoken, and their voices must be heard.
Sirmalta on March 1st, 2021 at 18:44 UTC »
I had a procured test in an online course and it was nuts.
A person sat there and watched me write the whole damn thing, I had to show them my whole room, my phone, my hands, where I was sitting. Etc.
I explained i live with my gf in a small place, she's doing groceries and would have to enter the room. They argued with me bit agreed. Then, when she got there, they still freaked out and made me show them the room again.
This was an English class. The fuck am I gonna cheat with when writing an essay?
OnsteadStreet on March 1st, 2021 at 17:49 UTC »
My school used ProctorU. I have a Mac and keep the dock hidden. While I was taking the test, I moved the mouse down. I noticed that my “downloads” folder was open. The Proctor was going through my files on my computer.
Also, I wanted to take the test on Firefox. At the time, I had an old 2012 MacBook. I told the proctor not to open Chrome. He goes an opens chrome. The only reason I noticed is because I saw the app bouncing.
I do not trust any of that proctor software.