MCPS GoGuardian and home computers

[Anonymous]

GoGuardian can take pictures, video and record audio. It's very contrverisal.

[Anonymous]

We saw that some software was installed on one of our browsers, so we're just using that browser for school and nothing else. It's a little weird. We're also getting a chromebook to be used just for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GoGuardian can take pictures, video and record audio. It's very contrverisal.

It CAN, but only if a live human operator is on the other end. Otherwise, it is just recording sites visited and how much time is spent there.

[Anonymous]

Bumping this thread to ask more about GoGuardian. Is it installed on all Chromebooks? How does it work on non-MCPS computers? Is there any other way to ensure kids don't surf the web during class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread to ask more about GoGuardian. Is it installed on all Chromebooks? How does it work on non-MCPS computers? Is there any other way to ensure kids don't surf the web during class?

Can someone provide an even more 101 explanation than this? What is GoGuardian?

[Anonymous]

How do they enforce you to install the GG extension a home computer? Can you just remove and block the extension?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread to ask more about GoGuardian. Is it installed on all Chromebooks? How does it work on non-MCPS computers? Is there any other way to ensure kids don't surf the web during class?

Can someone provide an even more 101 explanation than this? What is GoGuardian?

And: if I’m not using an MCPS Chromebook, how does it get on my computer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread to ask more about GoGuardian. Is it installed on all Chromebooks? How does it work on non-MCPS computers? Is there any other way to ensure kids don't surf the web during class?

Can someone provide an even more 101 explanation than this? What is GoGuardian?

And: if I’m not using an MCPS Chromebook, how does it get on my computer?

It's installed automatically when your child logs into their MCPS gsuite account from Chrome.

Forcing use of a non-Chrome browser might be enough to avoid this. E.g., firefox. Maybe Brave

[Anonymous]

Can anyone tell me how to uninstall it from our home computer? I had the kids using the home computer during the spring, but got them MCPS chrome books for the fall. The home computer was a brand new one, bought last fall, and once they started using it for school, it became serious screwed up -- it is so slow, I can barely use it. I wonder if it is the goguardian messing it up.
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

So should my student sign out of myMCPSclassroom everyday to stop the tracking on our shared home computer?

I’d like to understand more about this software from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

How do I find out whether it’s tracking our data now (before school starts)?

[Anonymous]

I think GoGuardian is installed only when you sync Chrome to an MCPS account. If you just sign in, but don’t sync, it will not be installed. What I did on my DC’s Windows computer is set up two logins, one for personal and one for school use. Chrome is synced to her MCPS account only on the school login, so hopefully they will only be able to spy on her school activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do I find out whether it’s tracking our data now (before school starts)?

Start Chrome, click on extensions, see if GoGuardian is installed. If Chrome is synced to an MCPS account, you won’t be able to disable GoGuardian. If you stop syncing, you should be able to disable it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think GoGuardian is installed only when you sync Chrome to an MCPS account. If you just sign in, but don’t sync, it will not be installed. What I did on my DC’s Windows computer is set up two logins, one for personal and one for school use. Chrome is synced to her MCPS account only on the school login, so hopefully they will only be able to spy on her school activities.

While I think that's true, there's a Gsuite setting that forces you to login into the browser to log into the Gsuite account. It sounds like they probably have that enabled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think GoGuardian is installed only when you sync Chrome to an MCPS account. If you just sign in, but don’t sync, it will not be installed. What I did on my DC’s Windows computer is set up two logins, one for personal and one for school use. Chrome is synced to her MCPS account only on the school login, so hopefully they will only be able to spy on her school activities.

While I think that's true, there's a Gsuite setting that forces you to login into the browser to log into the Gsuite account. It sounds like they probably have that enabled.

This was my experience on a Windows computer. Windows notified me about GoGuardian when I clicked on the sync button but after my DD had already signed into her MCPS account. I then cancelled the sync request and GoGuardian was not installed.

It may depend on the operating system of the home computer.