Eye-tracking, facial recognition, video and audio surveillance — a new report on remote test-taking warns of abuse, bias, and privacy infringement of students taking exams at home.

The report, from the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a New York-based nonprofit advocacy group that works to end discriminatory surveillance, looks into increasingly expansive access tech platforms have to students’ personal data, and calls on educational institutions to stop using online monitors.

Remote proctor programs are currently used at three-quarters of universities and K-12 schools in the United States. “With the transition to remote education, there has been this really rapid expanse of remote proctoring services that bring some of the worst forms of surveillance abuses into children's bedrooms,” said Albert Fox, executive director of STOP. “And it's really disturbing just how rapidly this technology is normalizing types of automated surveillance that would have once been unthinkable.” 

Covid-19 school closures have affected over 850 million youth, half of the world’s student population, leaving students more reliant on education apps than ever before. More than 90% of countries have implemented some form of at-home learning policy, according to UNICEF. In order to administer exams remotely and prevent cheating, many education institutions have relied on live online proctors in tandem with anti-cheating software.