Creepy ProctorU For Exams

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Smith1776
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Creepy ProctorU For Exams

Post by Smith1776 » Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:00 pm

As many of you guys know, I'm still in school. I recently had my first experience with ProctorU, which is a service that requires users to install a bunch of what can only be described as spyware.

I install the software and do the exam. Here's what ProctorU has access to: webcam viewing; full microphone; can view your desktop; can take control of your PC; can track your location; can run shell scripts; and a bunch of other crap I probably forgot.

Super creepy. I ended up doing the exam and installing all the spyware on a separate partition on my computer. I have a few more exams. Once I'm done I'll be nuking that partition. The worst part was that when the proctor wanted to take control of my PC there weren't any prompts or warnings that it was about to happen. It just happened. So sketchy.
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Xan
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Re: Creepy ProctorU For Exams

Post by Xan » Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:06 pm

Smith1776 wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:00 pm
As many of you guys know, I'm still in school. I recently had my first experience with ProctorU, which is a service that requires users to install a bunch of what can only be described as spyware.

I install the software and do the exam. Here's what ProctorU has access to: webcam viewing; full microphone; can view your desktop; can take control of your PC; can track your location; can run shell scripts; and a bunch of other crap I probably forgot.

Super creepy. I ended up doing the exam and installing all the spyware on a separate partition on my computer. I have a few more exams. Once I'm done I'll be nuking that partition. The worst part was that when the proctor wanted to take control of my PC there weren't any prompts or warnings that it was about to happen. It just happened. So sketchy.
Great idea running it on a completely separate installation. Really that should be the recommended way to do it. Probably most folks aren't up for repartitioning their computers though.

Would it work in a VM?
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Smith1776
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Re: Creepy ProctorU For Exams

Post by Smith1776 » Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:08 pm

Xan wrote:
Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:06 pm
Great idea running it on a completely separate installation. Really that should be the recommended way to do it. Probably most folks aren't up for repartitioning their computers though.

Would it work in a VM?
Yeah, I was just kind of "lucky" in that I already had the separate Windows partition specifically for gaming on my Mac. It doesn't really contain much in the way of personal files/information.

Some students are reporting on Reddit that it doesn't work in a VM, unfortunately. :o
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