Highly Disturbing Monitoring by School of Kid's Account

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Off-campus filtering for your school's Chromebooks.

Your student's learning doesn't end in the classroom and neither should your Chromebook's protection. GoGuardian actively filters and monitors student activity both in the classroom and at home.

https://www.goguardian.com/at-home-filtering-allows-complete-content-filtering-for-chromebooks-in-school-or-at-home.html

This other piece of info on the goguardian website:

Because of this limitation and the fact that GoGuardian cannot access device information to see if the device is managed by your domain, it is possible to have personal Chromebooks monitored and tracked by GoGuardian. Because the GoGuardian extensions are pushed to the users in your domain, these users will be monitored and tracked when signing in with their school given GAFE email accounts into any Chrome device (Chromebook or Chromebox) or when signing into the Chrome browser (only if you have the Chromebooks Only privacy setting disabled; it is enabled by default).

Your best option for not tracking personal devices is to search for this user in All Users and find the listing where they logged into a personal device (there will be two listings; a new listing is created every time a user logs into a new device) and to select the button in the top right under their name that says Stop Tracking User on this Device. This will prevent them from being tracked on their personal device, but will not affect them being tracked on the school device.

[Anonymous]

Blah, Blah, Blah. What are you going to do about it? Nothing? Well, then shut up and tell your kids to log out of the school account when at home.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher who uses GoGuardian. You can see a child's screen who is at home sick if the kid is logged into their school account on a chrome browser during their normal class time. My school let parents and students know about this and highlighted that students should sign into and out of their school accounts only for school work. This is a brand new piece of software this year but it has been really useful in preventing kids from being off task during class. You wouldn't believe the amount of time many kids spend toggling between school work and .io games. I hope that the county figures out a system for protecting privacy without getting rid of the software because 11-14 year olds really have poor judgement when it comes to internet use.

[Anonymous]

School just need to parents and students know that ALL web activities will be monitored if they are logged on the school/MCPS website from any device and any location. If they do not want to be monitored, they must close all apps and websites first before logging on the school/MCPS website or chrome account and then must log off the school/MCPS website or chrome account before opening other apps and websites.

Done.

Are parents activities are also being monitored if they are logged into Naviance or MyMCPS? Parents should assume that it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a teacher who uses GoGuardian. You can see a child's screen who is at home sick if the kid is logged into their school account on a chrome browser during their normal class time. My school let parents and students know about this and highlighted that students should sign into and out of their school accounts only for school work. This is a brand new piece of software this year but it has been really useful in preventing kids from being off task during class. You wouldn't believe the amount of time many kids spend toggling between school work and .io games. I hope that the county figures out a system for protecting privacy without getting rid of the software because 11-14 year olds really have poor judgement when it comes to internet use.

OP here. Thank you for responding.

1. Why is MCPS monitoring screens and not just URL when the kids are using their home personal computer to log in? This was my assumption all this time but seeing a screen remotely seems extremely intrusive.

2. When you say during "normal class time", is that by teacher's discretion? Meaning, if teacher wanted to see the kids' screen during "non school hours", are they able to see it as well? Looking at the goguardian website, it seems to state that teachers an view any previous sessions when kids are logged in from anywhere.

3. Who else has access to seeing the kids' screens aside from the teacher? Can subs access this information? Random IT people from the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School just need to parents and students know that ALL web activities will be monitored if they are logged on the school/MCPS website from any device and any location. If they do not want to be monitored, they must close all apps and websites first before logging on the school/MCPS website or chrome account and then must log off the school/MCPS website or chrome account before opening other apps and websites.

Done.

Are parents activities are also being monitored if they are logged into Naviance or MyMCPS? Parents should assume that it is.

There needs to be a lot more clarification from school to parents regarding this, as this is now a possible intrusion on a parent's personal computer. I bet you most parents are NOT aware of this and who knows how much personal information have been tracked consequently. It is different if it was a school-administered device that kids use throughout the day, including during off-school hours.

[Anonymous]

This MCPS practice is a MASSIVE home intrusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The school is potentially liable for anything inappropriate students do with their MCPS accounts. Of course they have a way to monitor activity.

+1
Students are using school accounts to access email, goggle docs, goggle apps. If you use a school account, you follow school rules. This is clearly stated in the Acceptable Use Policy of MCPS.
Similarly, if you used a work account from home to post something inappropriate you'd be held accountable.

Nothing alarming or disturbing about it, it's the way it is and helps to highlight that nothing is really anonymous online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s school - they’re using a school website with school property, are they not? And they’re supposed to be using it ONLY to do school work, right?
What’s the problem here? Are they supposed to let kids waste their classroom time doing frivolous things or maybe cyber bullying other kids? Why wouldn’t you parents be supporting this?? Tell your kids to only use the school WiFi and device for school related work and get on with your lives.

OP is talking about her home computer, at home, using her personal wifi.

OP out of curiosity, is your school using google docs, SIS or blackboard? Or some other program?

Parent should be monitoring their kids while on the computer so have said kid logout of the MCPS account as soon as they are done with school work and have them only do school work while in the account - that’s good for your kid anyway! Good habits to learn.

Also - had no one thought to put up a firewall to keep the monitoring software out of their home? There has to be a way to block it.

[Anonymous]

I am an IT professional, and let me just say that what MCPS is doing is not something that we do in the industry. For most of us, when we use an official work laptop/device, we should always assume we are monitored because when we started work, we signed an agreement on something that actually gave permission to our company to do so. Secondly, even when we logged in, normally we have to go through a VPN, and the computer will state somewhere that you are in VPN mode. For MCPS, your child can log in to their MCPS account on their parents' personal home computer, close all the windows after they are done, and still be logged in. Unless a child EXPLICITLY LOGS OUT, you will never know if you are still LOGGED IN to the system. Then next day, the parents opens up their computer and access websites such as banks to pay bills, maybe log into some portal to look at health information, maybe email personal information or have private text chats with coworkers/friends. What that means is to a parent, they think the are no longer in the MCPS system and all their activities including their entire screenshots are being tracked and saved by possibly not just the teacher but other administrator. I am sorry, but this is fundamentally very flawed.

I get the MCPS's teacher's perspective about how important it is to track our kids' activities at school. But unless MCPS makes this process of home computer intrusion a lot more clear, or heck, even logs the kid out of the MCPS account after idling for 30 minutes, this cannot possibly have legal legs to stand on.

I have never gotten anything from my school regarding chromebooks usage aside from my kids bringing home their account login/password. Even if the school emails the parents to inform them that kids should be logging out of their computer, I cannot imagine that this would not become a huge legal issue if some important personal information is leaked. This needs to be fixed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an IT professional, and let me just say that what MCPS is doing is not something that we do in the industry. For most of us, when we use an official work laptop/device, we should always assume we are monitored because when we started work, we signed an agreement on something that actually gave permission to our company to do so. Secondly, even when we logged in, normally we have to go through a VPN, and the computer will state somewhere that you are in VPN mode. For MCPS, your child can log in to their MCPS account on their parents' personal home computer, close all the windows after they are done, and still be logged in. Unless a child EXPLICITLY LOGS OUT, you will never know if you are still LOGGED IN to the system. Then next day, the parents opens up their computer and access websites such as banks to pay bills, maybe log into some portal to look at health information, maybe email personal information or have private text chats with coworkers/friends. What that means is to a parent, they think the are no longer in the MCPS system and all their activities including their entire screenshots are being tracked and saved by possibly not just the teacher but other administrator. I am sorry, but this is fundamentally very flawed.

I get the MCPS's teacher's perspective about how important it is to track our kids' activities at school. But unless MCPS makes this process of home computer intrusion a lot more clear, or heck, even logs the kid out of the MCPS account after idling for 30 minutes, this cannot possibly have legal legs to stand on.

I have never gotten anything from my school regarding chromebooks usage aside from my kids bringing home their account login/password. Even if the school emails the parents to inform them that kids should be logging out of their computer, I cannot imagine that this would not become a huge legal issue if some important personal information is leaked. This needs to be fixed.

By your kid logging out/you logging your kid out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an IT professional, and let me just say that what MCPS is doing is not something that we do in the industry. For most of us, when we use an official work laptop/device, we should always assume we are monitored because when we started work, we signed an agreement on something that actually gave permission to our company to do so. Secondly, even when we logged in, normally we have to go through a VPN, and the computer will state somewhere that you are in VPN mode. For MCPS, your child can log in to their MCPS account on their parents' personal home computer, close all the windows after they are done, and still be logged in. Unless a child EXPLICITLY LOGS OUT, you will never know if you are still LOGGED IN to the system. Then next day, the parents opens up their computer and access websites such as banks to pay bills, maybe log into some portal to look at health information, maybe email personal information or have private text chats with coworkers/friends. What that means is to a parent, they think the are no longer in the MCPS system and all their activities including their entire screenshots are being tracked and saved by possibly not just the teacher but other administrator. I am sorry, but this is fundamentally very flawed.

I get the MCPS's teacher's perspective about how important it is to track our kids' activities at school. But unless MCPS makes this process of home computer intrusion a lot more clear, or heck, even logs the kid out of the MCPS account after idling for 30 minutes, this cannot possibly have legal legs to stand on.

I have never gotten anything from my school regarding chromebooks usage aside from my kids bringing home their account login/password. Even if the school emails the parents to inform them that kids should be logging out of their computer, I cannot imagine that this would not become a huge legal issue if some important personal information is leaked. This needs to be fixed.

By your kid logging out/you logging your kid out.

That’s not a reasonable solution. Just the face that MCPS can do this is just wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an IT professional, and let me just say that what MCPS is doing is not something that we do in the industry. For most of us, when we use an official work laptop/device, we should always assume we are monitored because when we started work, we signed an agreement on something that actually gave permission to our company to do so. Secondly, even when we logged in, normally we have to go through a VPN, and the computer will state somewhere that you are in VPN mode. For MCPS, your child can log in to their MCPS account on their parents' personal home computer, close all the windows after they are done, and still be logged in. Unless a child EXPLICITLY LOGS OUT, you will never know if you are still LOGGED IN to the system. Then next day, the parents opens up their computer and access websites such as banks to pay bills, maybe log into some portal to look at health information, maybe email personal information or have private text chats with coworkers/friends. What that means is to a parent, they think the are no longer in the MCPS system and all their activities including their entire screenshots are being tracked and saved by possibly not just the teacher but other administrator. I am sorry, but this is fundamentally very flawed.

I get the MCPS's teacher's perspective about how important it is to track our kids' activities at school. But unless MCPS makes this process of home computer intrusion a lot more clear, or heck, even logs the kid out of the MCPS account after idling for 30 minutes, this cannot possibly have legal legs to stand on.

I have never gotten anything from my school regarding chromebooks usage aside from my kids bringing home their account login/password. Even if the school emails the parents to inform them that kids should be logging out of their computer, I cannot imagine that this would not become a huge legal issue if some important personal information is leaked. This needs to be fixed.

By your kid logging out/you logging your kid out.

I don't think you are understanding how what mcps is doing is not a typical IT standard that is adopted by any organizations that I have worked for.

[Anonymous]

You are using a school resource at home, therefore you are under school rules while using it.

No different than accessing the IRS website.

No expectation of privacy while using corporate, school or government resources.

Sounds like you need to start doing some parenting any user circle and other home monitoring of your internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an IT professional, and let me just say that what MCPS is doing is not something that we do in the industry. For most of us, when we use an official work laptop/device, we should always assume we are monitored because when we started work, we signed an agreement on something that actually gave permission to our company to do so. Secondly, even when we logged in, normally we have to go through a VPN, and the computer will state somewhere that you are in VPN mode. For MCPS, your child can log in to their MCPS account on their parents' personal home computer, close all the windows after they are done, and still be logged in. Unless a child EXPLICITLY LOGS OUT, you will never know if you are still LOGGED IN to the system. Then next day, the parents opens up their computer and access websites such as banks to pay bills, maybe log into some portal to look at health information, maybe email personal information or have private text chats with coworkers/friends. What that means is to a parent, they think the are no longer in the MCPS system and all their activities including their entire screenshots are being tracked and saved by possibly not just the teacher but other administrator. I am sorry, but this is fundamentally very flawed.

I get the MCPS's teacher's perspective about how important it is to track our kids' activities at school. But unless MCPS makes this process of home computer intrusion a lot more clear, or heck, even logs the kid out of the MCPS account after idling for 30 minutes, this cannot possibly have legal legs to stand on.

I have never gotten anything from my school regarding chromebooks usage aside from my kids bringing home their account login/password. Even if the school emails the parents to inform them that kids should be logging out of their computer, I cannot imagine that this would not become a huge legal issue if some important personal information is leaked. This needs to be fixed.

By your kid logging out/you logging your kid out.

I don't think you are understanding how what mcps is doing is not a typical IT standard that is adopted by any organizations that I have worked for.

You work at crappy places with low it budgets ripe for liability issues