Pfefferkorn also encourages you to ask your school to conduct an audit of the monitoring software, which could reveal what kind of content the algorithm tracks and how. An audit can show whether the software is really effective or picking up false alarms. Encourage your school to document and inform parents about exactly what they keep, how they store and when they delete student data. Ask if you can have your child’s data deleted, or at least see what has been collected.
Pretend to be watched even after school
Whether you’re using your phone on your school’s Wi-Fi or using a school laptop at home, assume that everything you do is scanned and recorded by monitoring software. Have you connected your personal phone to your school laptop? The photos on your phone can also be scanned. Nude photos sent from students’ personal phones when connected to school devices for charging have prompted warnings to school administrators.
“You have to assume that everything that touches your school-issued device is controlled in some way,” said Jason Kelley, associate director of digital strategy at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. Monitoring also doesn’t stop after school or off campus.
If you are a student, practice the basics of digital privacy. Do not use your school laptop or Wi-Fi to search for sensitive information, such as medical information. Remember that any kind of data or content on a school communication platform can be scanned and flagged: your school email address, the documents you type in your school Google Drive, your online searches, the images you download, the videos you watch . Even content that is completely safe can be flagged by the algorithm: for example, the software Gaggle can flag keywords related to LGBTQ identity such as “gay” and “queer” as instances of bullying.
Even if you trust a handful of teachers or counselors, keep in mind that your activity could be seen by other adults at school, or even law enforcement officers. Don’t do anything on your device that you don’t want them to see.
Others may advise students to “just use your personal device, on your family’s personal network.” It is important to note that this type of tutoring is not accessible to all students. For low-income students, who may be more dependent on school technology, it can be more difficult to circumvent a school’s supervisory structures.
Watch your social media
Schools can also use AI tools to track social media posts. This is especially relevant for students. While colleges generally don’t use content monitoring software, it’s likely they will monitor students’ social media for potential risk of violence or protest.
Just as you would assume that anything you type on your school issued device can be seen and scanned by an algorithm, assume that your public social profiles can be too. Even private accounts aren’t completely secure, Kelley says. (Yes, even your super-locked-down Finsta.) For example, if you comment on a public account, that could be scanned and also subjected to social media monitoring algorithms.
