Hi. My school just started issuing devices last year, and they have this Lightspeed spyware on them. Last year I was able to remove it by booting into Linux from a flash drive and moving the files to a separate drive and then back at the end of the year. This year I have heard from sources that they have ways of detecting someone booting from Linux so I am hesitant to do that option. My only other idea is to buy an old laptop off eBay that looks like it and install Linux on it. I could probably get one for about 50€. Does anyone have any cheaper ideas?
Oh also talking to IT isn’t an option.
Why would you not separate personal devices from school devices? If you can afford a personal device, do so; it won’t be the last time.
Because they want to play games at school.
Actually I can install things on it and only installed a better browser and office suite. I would simply prefer not to be spied on at school, and I don’t think that that is unreasonable.
Just don’t use school property for things you want to be private. It works the exact same way with anything owned by any organization you may work for in the future.
I want my schoolwork to be private. I don’t want a proprietary network enabled keylogger on my computer even though I only use it for schoolwork. I am legally required to go to my school, I am legally required to use their computer, I am legally required to give up my privacy. I don’t understand why people think privacy isn’t a reasonable expectation at school. I am okay with the school having my information but they use proprietary keyloggers and network monitoring tools that can do whatever the fuck they want with it.
This is the right attitude, my friend, for real.
I’m a teacher and have guided students down this path before. Tech rights are important, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Surveillance is not security.
Buying that cheapo Linux lappy and running it on the down-low sounds like the best bet. Don’t draw attention to it and you’ll be fine.
The ethics of what you use it for is up to you: choose wisely. But simply wanting privacy is not a crime.
Don’t have any expectation of privacy on a device you do not own, this applies with school & work-supplied devices.
They own the device, they set the terms.
A reasonable request, but I doubt the school’s going to back down from the position of “we’re allowed to monitor the hardware we own”.
It’s a laptop owned by your school, so they can install spyware if they want to. More importantly the school likely has policies against removing or otherwise tampering with it. You would be wise to find out what they will do if you violate this policy. It could be anything from a slap on the wrist to expulsion.
Any decent IT department will eventually figure out if you disable it. They’ll know fairly quickly if it stops “phoning in” if the spyware is any good.
Like all school rules, they are incredibly vague and the punishment is whatever they see fit. I kid you not, “no hacking” is one of the rules.
Know your school handbook and acceptable use policy inside and out. Same with any other published guidelines they provide. My bet is that their AUP says something about not circumventing their security and monitoring tools. Booting into a live OS would certainly fall into that category. But knowing what the rules actually say is probably the first thing you should do since you don’t own the hardware or network. From there, you can decide how far you really want to go and if there are any defenses or loopholes in the rules.
Getting your own hardware is probably your best option in this case if you can do so.
Not using the school given device is the best course of option unfortunately. Second hand ones are good, but the specs will be pretty bad
I don’t mind bad specs. I actually just want to use it for school. I was hoping not to spend money on this though.
Hate to break it to you, but jobs are doing this as well. I am a teacher, and we just got GoGuardian for students, but it has been watching / blocking things for teachers since I started a couple years ago. If you have a work-issued device, your work will most likely monitor it, and same goes with school-issued devices. I get that you want to hack it and do what you want, but that could get you fired some day.
that could get you fired some day.
Among other ways it might make you better off, a tendency to boot linux on school-issued devices could also very much help get you hired some day. Although perhaps not in the education system. Seeing a teacher discourage it is even more depressing than seeing a student fear he’ll be punished for it. So long as you’re not breaking any laws, it seems like a fine idea.
So long as you’re not breaking any laws
In the US, basically anything you are not authorized to do on someone else’s computer is illegal and can be prosecuted under the CFAA.
I point this out only to highlight that it’s a terrible law that needs to be changed, I’m not disagreeing with anything that your said.
I don’t discourage it so much as I’m giving this person a warning. Also, do you know why they put up those systems? To protect their devices, and to block kids from things they legally should not be on. I’ve seen so many kids (and adults) download viruses, spyware, adware, etc on their computer just because they wanted a “cool” mouse pointer, wallpaper, or other feature. Not that I think op will do something stupid like this, but this is what they’re protecting their computers from.
I like this take. I got into a programming class after telling the teacher about a program I had previously gotten an in school suspension for writing. It recursively started itself and used a ton of resources. It was just goofy and the it dept. called it a virus.
When I was in high school I had my school laptop and my Linux laptop, if I needed to do work I would download the file on the school laptop and use a USB to move it to my Linux laptop to work on it. It was tedious but was the only way as we had latitude 2 in 1s that had a soldered in ssd. So I couldnt swap hdd, I ran zorinOS on a Lenovo t450 and it worked really well for school work
—edit Light speeds a bitch
Disregard whatever you’ve heard about installing Linux on the device, find the agreement given with it and see what it says. If no reference is made to doing your thing then returning it with the same setup, I’d say you’re in the clear. I’d bet the agreement covers damage, lost and stolen aspects plus returning it good condition, yet if you reinstall the software like it was provided they’d have to be very explicit about not loading Linux. If they do, you could use linux on a USB without installation. This could get you off the spyware while not breaking the rules if they are in writing.
Basically this. I’d just buy a used disk, swap them out and install Linux. That or use a USB.
When it comes time to return it, put the old hard drive in it and return it. I can’t think of a way for them to tell you did this aside from the lack of logs they keep from trying to track you.
I got in trouble for getting into the schools network I’m 6th grade. They kept asking who in the group was involved in remotely shutting down computers and that they had logs and would find out anyway. I called their bluff and didn’t get in as much trouble as the rest of us.
Yeah, that’s not spyware, it’s called mobile device management and if the school owns it, they have every right to monitor it.
I don’t give a shit. I am required to use it and it has a fucking keylogger. You have to be a complete idiot to say that isn’t spyware.
Sassy. You’re required to use it for school work. No one is forcing you to use it on your own time, get your own personal device for that. Cope.
If it truly does have a keylogger then that’s really bad as it means they have access to your passwords and any other sensitive data you might type. How certain are you that it includes a keylogger?
You don’t NEED to give a shit. It’s their hardware, they can do as they see fit with it. If you don’t like it then don’t use it. It really is that simple. You can be as indignant as you want, but the answers that many have already given you in this regard will still ring true.
Use it as is, or don’t use it at all. Those are your options. Get over it.
And for fucks sake, stop giving everyone here a bunch of attitude just because you don’t like how the real world is.
Bring your own device. Run it on your own wireless Internet connection (cellular). Never attach it to any private (read: school) resources aside from a power plug. Do not use corporate cloud (Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, etc). When you need to transfer assignments from personal computer to school computer, use your own cloud service like Nextcloud, or use GPG to encrypt the payload and send it to your school email address, which you can decrypt and send to your teacher. It will then be public and you should assume the teacher is techdumb and will put it on compromised systems like Apple, Microsoft, etc.
