We have been using lockdown browsers at ASU all year due to COVID, and now they want to make us switch to a browser extension called Honorlock. I understand and appreciate the desire to maintain academic integrity throughout the student body, but I do not believe this is the way to do it.

A quick google search will tell you that this is a very unpopular program, and why ASU “willingly chose Honorlock” is a mystery to me. It has a 1.4 star rating on google, and looking at the Chrome store where you can download the software shows that basically every review is either 1 star, or somebody trying to cover up for them with a glowing 5 star review. Honorlock apparently has the ability to detect secondary devices while you’re testing, which already seems like a pretty huge red flag to me. I’ve read online it can only detect these devices if they search through their “dummy” websites, but I’ve also seen others who claim it’s through network snooping, so I’m not sure who to believe on that one. Either way, that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems I have with Honorlock.

I’ve read countless reviews that discuss how terrible the program is to use just from a technical standpoint, as well as the fact that they have inadequate customer service. In attempting to download the software for my class, it came up with a warning saying Honorlock can “read and change all your data on the websites you visit”. That’s just not acceptable to me. I don’t think this should be forced upon students, especially when most of us did not actively choose to do online schooling.