Students of color are more likely to rely on school-issued laptops than their white peers are. This in turn makes minority students more likely to be monitored and exposes them to greater risk of some sort of intervention. The situation is worsened by the fact that Black and Hispanic students rely more on school devices than their white peers do.
The lack of oversight in schools’ use of these tools could lead to further harm for minority students. African American students’ chances of being suspended are more than three times higher than that of their white peers.Īfter evaluating flagged content, vendors report any concerns to school officials, who take disciplinary actions on a case-by-case basis. schools disproportionately discipline minority students. It also hinders the development of the skills and mindset needed to exercise their rights. In general, surveillance has a negative impact on students’ ability to act and use analytical reasoning. When students know that their every move and everything read and written is watched, they are also less likely to develop into adults with a high level of self-confidence. This can discourage vulnerable groups, such as students with mental health issues, from getting needed services. When students know they are being monitored, they are less likely to share true thoughts online and are more careful about what they search. In some cases, these surveillance programs have flagged students discussing music deemed suspicious and even students talking about the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Harm to students This is why student surveillance systems pick up a lot of false positives instead of real problems. Artificial intelligence not intelligent enoughĮven the most advanced artificial intelligence lacks the ability to understand human language and context.
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Privacy advocates fear these tools may harm students by criminalizing mental health problems and deterring free expression.Īs a researcher who studies privacy and security issues in various settings, I know that intrusive surveillance techniques cause emotional and psychological harm to students, disproportionately penalize minority students and weaken online security. Vendors often refuse to reveal how their artificial intelligence programs were trained and the type of data used to train them.
However, privacy groups and news outlets have raised questions about those claims. Vendors claim these tools keep students safe from self-harm or online activities that could lead to trouble.
In Baltimore, where the public school system uses the GoGuardian surveillance app, police officers are sent to children’s homes when the system detects students typing keywords related to self-harm. Three-quarters of incidents reported – that is, cases where the system flagged students’ online activity – took place outside school hours. This student surveillance is taking place – at taxpayer expense – in cities and school communities throughout the United States.įor instance, in the Minneapolis school district, school officials paid over $355,000 to use tools provided by student surveillance company Gaggle until 2023.