A growing number of schools are using AI-powered surveillance tools to monitor students’ web activity 24/7, even when they’re at home. The objective of these tools is to keep kids safe, but they can have unintended consequences related to privacy, security and discipline.
Have you had an experience involving surveillance technology at your school or your child’s school, whether positive or negative, that you want to share with reporters? The Education Reporting Collaborative wants to hear from students, parents, educators and others who can share examples of how these programs are being used or misused at their schools or universities. We are particularly interested in examples of students being flagged by AI surveillance and referred to law enforcement.
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Commonly used web monitoring software includes Gaggle Safety Management, GoGuardian Admin and Beacon, Securly Aware, Bark for Schools, Navigate360 Digital Threat Detection, Linewize and Lightspeed Alert.
The Collaborative includes journalists from AL.com, The Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, Idaho Education News, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, and The Seattle Times. Your information will not be shared outside of our newsrooms, and we won’t use it in stories without following up with you first.
You can share your experience here: st.news/studentsurveillancesurvey
You can also email us at edlab@seattletimes.com.
Seattle Times staff and The Associated Press.