ProctorTrack, very simply, is invasive and a breach of ethics. It invades a student’s right to privacy, by the extreme data it collects and stores. It hinges on unethical behavior by making students install questionable software on their machines. There is an irony that professors are unable to record due to privacy concerns, but the university willingly lets a third-party company collect student data without option. ProctorTrack is a United States company, where personal (including biometric) data will be crossing borders internationally which, under the Patriot Act, allows any and all United States intelligence agencies and law enforcement immediate and permanent access to it without a warrant. A quick skim through the privacy policy on ProtcorTrack’s website will tell you what they can collect:

“Personal Information collected through our Services may include, but is not limited to, the following:

    Name
    Address
    Zip Code
    Photograph of identity document, such as a driver’s license
    Photograph of you
    Telephone Number
    Username and Password
    Name of the Test Sponsor(s) 
    Employment information
    E-mail address
    Test submissions
    Screen-captures
    Audio and video recordings of you taking tests and the test-room environment
    Biometric data, including biometric identifiers (such as scans of hand or knuckles) and biometric information (such as knuckle, face, or keystroke patterns)
    Government-issued identification number (if required, or as included in the identity document you provide)”
Furthermore, the absolute control this software has on your machine is ludicrous. It shares parallels with spyware, keyloggers, and malware. Considering some professors agree with the stance students are taking, the University of Regina should strongly reconsider their choices. This software is anxiety-inducing, and hinders the process for exams; there are better methods that could be considered. 

Facial recognition software and biometric scanners have been shown to uphold racial bias and cannot be trusted to accurately evaluate people of color. Eye movement and body movement is natural and unconscious, and for many neurodivergent people is completely unavoidable. For some, the freedom to get up and move around and take breaks from the test is paramount to success. How will this affect people with autism, ADHD, Tourettes, general anxiety disorder? How will this affect people with pets, children, or shared living spaces who cannot guarantee that they will be uninterrupted or have a quiet environment to work in?

-How will this affect people who do not have access to the technology or hardware to meet the requirements for these tests? How will people be able to use the bathroom? Some tests can take certain students upward of 4.5+ hours, and some students have bowel or bladder issues that cause them to require the use of bathrooms more frequently. It is completely unrealistic to disallow students to use the bathroom during exams, especially since this is allowed during on-campus exams.

Unfortunately, it is a reality that academic dishonesty will occur, and there have been no studies to definitively confirm that proctoring reduces academic dishonesty. It may be more valuable to attempt to determine why students cheat and offer more support to the gaps that are resulting in students resorting to academic dishonesty.

We call on: 

- Students to express their opposition to invasive proctoring software to their professors and departments, and to withdraw from classes that include its use when feasible to do so;

- Professors to refuse the use of invasive software for their exams and to express their opposition to the dean of their department;

- Departments to prohibit the use of ProctorTrack in classes under their umbrella, and to express their opposition to the administration of the University;

- and the University of Regina to immediately cease all plans for the usage of ProctorTrack in U of R classes.