BCIT's Institutional Repository has moved! The new link to the Open Education Collection is https://repository.lib.bcit.ca/islandora/open-education-collection

Oh great, Microsoft Teams wants my voiceprint and faceprint. Somehow I doubt Privacy Impact Assessments have been conducted for this new collection and use of biometric data.

Proctorio has an "Acceptable Use Policy" that requires faculty to agree not to harm students or violate their privacy. But Proctorio ITSELF is a harmful invasion of privacy! Are faculty liable for Proctorio? Will Proctorio sue them, as they have staff and students?

Don't use Proctorio. Sign the Pledge Against Academic Surveillance: https://pledge.againstsurveillance.net/

“I will do everything in my power to obstruct, work against, and end academic surveillance technologies and their harm against students.”

I just backed Cory's latest Marty Hench book on Kickstarter. It's read by Wil Wheaton and comes without DRM.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/picks-and-shovels-marty-hench-at-the-dawn-of-enshittification?ref=thanks-tweet

"There's a popular narrative right now that the people who aren't using AI – e.g. women – simply don't understand the technology. And once they do, they'll get on board. But Tanksley's research shows something else entirely: once Black students understand the technology – the racist and extractive logics that are fundamental to artificial intelligence – they are better prepared to resist and survive." - Audrey Watters

Link: https://www.tieratanksley.com/_files/ugd/eda377_77c1dbe2a48a4ed199bd8101d5eac40e.pdf?ref=2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com via Second Breakfast: https://2ndbreakfast.audreywatters.com/the-robots-have-brain-rot/

"All energy put into detection and policing is energy not going into teaching and learning. Surveillance tech like Proctorio primarily serves as a way to frighten and distract students as they’re attempting to demonstrate their knowledge."

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/just-visiting/2024/12/06/we-cant-let-chatgpt-make-lie-out-education

Proctorio has been suing me for 1,555 days. Don't make the same mistake as UBC. Before partnering with any company, ensure they don't have a history of suing the very people you are responsible for protecting. No other company in this industry is known for suing its critics. You can't do worse than Proctorio.

"Like many test-takers of color, Yemi-Ese, who is Black, has spent the past three semesters using software that reliably struggles to locate his face. Now whenever he sits down to take an exam using Proctorio, he turns on every light in his bedroom and positions a ring light behind his computer so that it shines directly into his eyes. Despite these preparations, “I know that I’m going to have to try a couple times before the camera recognizes me,” he said.""

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/is-online-test-monitoring-here-to-stay

@mxrn@social.tchncs.de @loriemerson Thanks for tagging me here! Is the student an English language learner? They may be experiencing discrimination. https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-detectors-biased-against-non-native-english-writers

I wrote and spoke about Proctorio, Turnitin, and their harms.

The Case Against AI Proctoring and AI Detection: https://bccampus.ca/2024/10/16/beyond-surveillance-the-case-against-ai-proctoring-ai-detection/

Video of my talk: https://bccampus.ca/event/edtech-sandbox-series-beyond-surveillance-the-case-against-ai-detection-and-ai-proctoring/

It took almost two years, but Turnitin has stopped some of the harm of its AI detection tool.

They never admitted their false positive rate for AI Scores between 0-19%, but if it was even 1%, millions of students could have been falsely accused.

Link: https://guides.turnitin.com/hc/en-us/articles/22774058814093-AI-writing-detection-in-the-new-enhanced-Similarity-Report

@rspfau Thanks for asking. Proctorio's lawsuit is still ongoing, but I don't have any updates.

Two hours after my tweets, Proctorio removed the videos. I moved on, never tweeting one of the links again. Over a week later, they sued, alleging copyright infringement, circumvention of a technological protection measure, and breach of confidence. It has been exceptionally clear for the past 4 years that Proctorio’s lawsuit makes no sense. The maximum penalty for noncommercial copyright infringement is $5000, and they have spent at least 100 times that much inflicting vengeful wrath. thread/3

The week before term start, Proctorio was busy doing one thing: suing me. On August 23rd and 24th, I tweeted links to 7 unlisted YouTube videos. They were the the proof supporting expressions of my belief that Proctorio has no place in education and harms students every day at a massive scale.

My belief that Proctorio has no place in education and harms students every day at a massive scale has cost me a great deal of money and time. thread 2/

Today marks 4 years since Proctorio sued me. It was the week before term start, a trying time for any educational technologist, but this was September 2020 and every class was being taught online. If you were in ed tech for this one, you worked harder than ever. We share something in common. Proctorio emailed me a lawsuit and threw my world upside down. #HigherEd #EdTech thread 1/

It was a productive day for the Canadian Privacy Library! I uploaded 215 PIAs from 5 different institutions. 14 of 25 BC public post-secondary institutions now have PIAs on the site! Also, I broke the site, fixed the site, and added filename search. https://privacylibrary.ca

I'm so grateful to @pluralistic for this thread. If you missed it yesterday, the Canadian Privacy Library is under legal threat!

https://mastodon.social/@pluralistic@mamot.fr/112887604451146053

The Canadian Privacy Library is under legal threat!

On July 19th, I received a cease and desist letter from Langara College demanding the removal of a public government document I obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

This is a violation of my freedom of expression, fair dealing rights, and academic freedom.

https://www.privacylibrary.ca/legal-threat/

@dnorman Imagine how it would go if Proctorio sought an injunction against Google?

Today is Day 1400 of Proctorio's lawsuit.