The University At Albany will soon be enabling professors to utilize Respondus Lockdown Browser to proctor exams. Respondus is a program that is designed to curtail cheating, and removes some of the functionality of your device during the course of the exam.This browser is incredibly invasive and an arguable violation of our privacy.

     This program and others like it amount to nothing more than Malware. This program may even be flagged by virus protection programs, which should serve as proof enough that these types of programs do not belong on our devices. From a security and privacy standpoint this is incredibly invasive. This program shows that the school can't work with us students and give us the simple courtesy of trust. Simple Google searches bring up numerous results of problems with Respondus and the various security concerns caused by these types of programs.

    The fact that we may be recorded raises further concerns everyone should be aware of. We are essentially surrendering our privacy and control of our devices because a few professors can't trust us. If UAlbany truly thinks that cheating is a problem then perhaps they should look into adopting different grading rubrics instead.  Being recorded brings about many problems that put many students at a severe disadvantage. Due to the fact that Respondus flags students who look away or have background noise, students with problems paying attention, sitting still, or who have issues finding a quite place to take test will be at a higher risk for being flagged. On top of this we as a student body must consider if we want footage and audio recordings of us stored on some corporations server. In addition students with unstable internet connections are also at a disadvantage. Being disconnected or having your computer freeze may cause students extreme difficulty in reconnecting to their exam.  Respondus is not only a violation of our devices integrity, but a violation of our liberties.

      Our tuition money deserves to go to something that better benefits us as a student body. Join us in telling UAlbany to reject the Respondus Lockdown Browser.