We ain’t living in a FREE country anymore, things drastically change ever since Tyrant Joe took the office.
This time more liftest liberals are gaining confidence to impose their communist agenda – Thanks to Biden!
Recently, Baltimore public schools are monitoring Student’s online activities using software that recognizes certain words and phrases that a student may be contemplating suicide, then alert school officials.
The surveillance technology was installed on laptops during the pandemic, when children were using school computers at home, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The Sun reported, “Since March, nine students have been identified through GoGuardian’s Beacon software as having a severe mental health crisis and were taken to an emergency room, according to Stacey Davis, the city schools coordinator of media and instructional technology. In at least two of those cases, the students had never had any mental health care.”
Recently, two reports cast doubt on the system, suggesting that it may be used to punish students for their private online activities and restrict their freedom of speech. The reports also noted that the surveillance device might mistakenly out LGBTQ students.
“Privacy and equity was not being considered as much as it needs to be,” Elizabeth Laird, director of equity in civic technology at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, co-authored one of the reports, told the sun.
School officials told the Sun that they were trying to build relationships with students using the software, before; the GoGuardian has been used for monitoring students’ online activity, but not for mental health issues.
About the software, The Sun’s editorial board published an article raising concerns :
The city system apparently has no policies in place to govern what can — and can’t — be monitored on its thousands of devices. It has sent police to children’s homes in response to their use of certain self-harm-related keywords, as The Real News Network noted earlier this month. And the surveillance undoubtedly targets lower-income families, who are more likely to use school-issued computers instead of their own, personal devices.
School Police Chief Akil Hamm told the Sun that many families who were contacted due to alerts from the software were grateful to learn about their children’s mental health concerns.
The editorial board wrote, “But it doesn’t alleviate our other concerns, including the potential for 4th amendment violations involving warrantless searches. If this software usage is to continue in this way, we’d much prefer to see social workers and psychologists responding to red flags, rather than armed officers.”
According to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), The ACLU’s report found:
Baltimore is not the only place monitoring student online activity. Other school districts in Maryland have increased monitoring during the pandemic, mostly to ensure students are doing their assignments. Schools in Rhode Island also have monitoring software, and teachers in the state can view student activity and even access the cameras.
Sources: Dailywire, Govtech, Baltimoresun, Realclearpolitics