I was taking a quiz on D2L on Firefox (windows 11) while using ChatGPT to check my answers when all of a sudden my internet cut in and out. It caused my quiz tab to minimize while everything else stayed open. Then the tab said “internet connection restored”.
This has happened twice and both times were during a quiz when I was using ChatGPT.
Is it right to assume that since this is my personal computer then they don’t know what else I have on my desktop?
- yes probably spying
- why are you using ai to cheat
Use two different devices.
Do not use your own personal hardware for school, or work-related tasks. If your school wants you to use hardware, they can issue it to you. And you only use it for school. If your job wants you to use hardware, they can issue it to you, and you can only use it for your job. Use your personal stuff for personal stuff only. Do not mix and match.
I’ve never seen a post-secondary school that provides computer hardware.
Back in 2006, mine did. My entire program was issued a laptop and it included all the software we needed, including AutoCAD. At the end of the 3-year program we bought it for a dollar.
My work will not provide me a work machine for the very optional WFH benefit I have. Either I use my personal machine, or I have to go into the office, and fuck the office.
So, I put my work stuff into Virtual Machine jail; if they want to spy on me, they’ll have to figure out how to break out of that first.
if i had to provide a pc for work at home, it’d be a separate machine used exclusively for that, and isolated on its own lan.
Yah a decent work machine with an i5, 256GB SSD, and 8GB RAM is like 300USD on sale in many countries. No way I wouldn’t just do that, the fuel savings and commute time would pay for it immediately.
Good plan, just ensure you isolate that VM from your home network, too. I don’t trust my company at all, so their laptop only connects to my guest wifi.
Yeah, that’s a pretty good option as well.
They can, they do, and you’ve installed software to facilitate their access, so yes, they are doing it.
A general rule of thumb is, do not allow them to install anything on your personal hardware. If they provide the hardware, fine, but you treat their hardware as hostile. You cover the camera and you put it in a place where it’s not going to hear anything. You cover it with pillows too, to muffle sounds from other rooms. Assume it’s watching and listening to all it can.
Any hardware you install their stuff on, consider it compromised. Disconnect the web cam or cover it up. Do your stuff on another device that it’s not installed on. (The reason it wants webcam access is so it can see if you’re looking away.)
Honestly, includes peripherals. USB storage devices at a minimum.
Is it right to assume that since this is my personal computer then they don’t know what else I have on my desktop?
Correct, but it’s possible to detect when a tab loses focus and assume that you are cheating.
Checking for Correct Answers with ChatGPT is a scary thought.
Let’s be fair: it’s like getting suggestions from a well educated person who is seldomly wrong about dates and numbers.
Welcome to education in 2025.
Yeah… My daughter is in uni for bachelor of science, and first year classes required her to use ai for various tasks. It’s a strange world out there.
Did they require you to install any desktop software or browser extensions? Did they request permissions like camera access or screen recording? If the answer to all those questions is No, then I can’t think of any way they could possibly know what you were doing.
They had me install the Lockdown browser for at-home proctored exams. It’s a browser that won’t let you switch tasks or even open another program or tab. Idk if it would take screenshots without opening it though but then again all kinds of programs are running in Windows all the time.
Would they do that tho? I mean I don’t know if I’ve heard of someone getting penalized because the school was secretly taking screenshots.
Edit I just realized I sound way too paranoid but it’s an interesting question
Anti-cheat software in either testing or gaming as well as employee productivity monitoring software (which is similar) generally has wide ranging permissions to do its job. So without doing research to confirm, I’d assume it has full access to everything you do across all applications, including when it’s not running in the foreground if it has background services running.
Personally, I never install that stuff on my primary operating system. I either use a dedicated device, dual boot, or if it is less sophisticated, use a virtual machine with only Windows and the necessary software. Of course I don’t use Windows for any personal computers anyway, too inefficient, and these days, too unstable and too much spyware built-in. I only use Windows on my work laptop these days which spys on me constantly to the point of crashing a lot as it collects all of its info when I use development software at the same time as WebEx or other necessary software.
If you want to know details, you need to look at the software they had you install as well as the dependencies it might install.
Can you please elaborate on dependencies part? How to analyze them and how to know which package does exactly what in a quick way? Does one need any coding knowledge? Thank you
It definitely depends on the application. But when you’re installing it, it should yell you if it’s installing other things. Otherwise you’ll have to look at the actual files it installed. There should ne documentation you can read on the site or st least it should have given you a readme to look at when you install it that has the info or links to a website with the info. There also should be a privacy policy in the application or on its site that describes what info it collects and tracks assuming this is from a reputable company. I’m just not familiar with it.
Yeah that’s the point of a lockdown browser bruv
I just realized I sound way too paranoid but it’s an interesting question
Nope. Not paranoid enough. If school/work requires such software, that goes onto a separate device only for those purposes, which will then be considered untrustworthy environment like any public computer.
Although perhaps in a sense it is paranoid compared to what others do. Recently I’ve had to get something printed without having own printer. I’ve found out people have no problem logging into their Google or Microsoft account on public PCs.
I brought the PDF on a CD.
There’s a certain small chance that something malicious could be written to a USB, and I don’t know about all the possible vulnerabilities. If mounted, perhaps the automatic media thumbnail generator could be exploited. That is probably paranoid, worrying about random software installed on your own computer is certainly not.that goes onto a separate device only for those purposes
Or in a VM if you don’t have any spare devices available. VM escapes exist, but they’re a pretty rare and severe type of vulnerability that’s unlikely to be casually utilised by proctoring software.
I’ve found out people have no problem logging into their Google or Microsoft account on public PCs. I brought the PDF on a CD
With 2FA I probably wouldn’t have too much of a problem with doing this. Especially if I then change password afterwards.
Another option would be to host it somewhere that you can remember the URL. If you don’t care for the privacy of the document itself, just using a URL shortener and Google Drive’s public sharing would work fine, or hosting at your own domain.
Personally though, I’m glad that on the rare occasion I need to get something printed (I have my own black and white laser printer at home for 99% of my needs), my local company for that sort of thing lets you upload it from home and pick up.
Or in a VM
Problem is, some of this software may likely be made to specifically not run in a VM, since it is supposed to keep track of everything the student is doing during exams.
Yes, the Lockdown browser can absolutely do that. I had to do something similar for proctored exams, and I set up a second Windows installation, not just for privacy, but to make sure there was absolutely nothing installed or running that might cause the browser to flag me. Those browser report everything they can.
Would they do that? No idea. But could they? Yes, without a doubt. I don’t know that browser in particular, but if you’ve installed some software on your machine, that software can do anything any other software could do.
edit: this page (which seems like it might be from the developers of that browser) indicates it can monitor your screen and restrict your Internet access.
I don’t know about D2L, but I know Canvas has the ability to do some crazy shit all in the browser itself. I never got to experience the administrative aspect, but during the PoC of Canvas I remember seeing that professors had the ability to see when / how long a user clicked off a tab.
btw my work website also checks if i’m active/focused on a tab or if I clicked off it, this addon spoofs it well https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/always-visible/
