[liberationtech] Stanford blocking webmail access to those who refuse spyware

[Joseph Mornin]

> This seemed to me like an inevitable outcome when there was little to
> no backlash against spyware requirements for exams in most
> law-schools.

There was backlash at Berkeley (my law school), and the school no longer
forces students to install exam software.

On 2/7/14, 10:12 AM, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 9:52 AM,  <taltman1 at stanford.edu> wrote:
>> This is the kind of heavy hand that Stanford is laying down on
>> students and faculty who do not want to give up their privacy.
> 
> This seemed to me like an inevitable outcome when there was little to
> no backlash against spyware requirements for exams in most
> law-schools. (unless you want the massive disadvantage of turning in
> your exam on paper…)
> 
> I can't fathom how people it was remotely acceptable to require the
> installation of spyware on students systems at institutions training
> people for work which handles confidential client information where
> running such software ought to be considered an violation of
> professional conduct.
> 
> But there you go— the world is an unfathomable place and here we have
> just a natural continuation of that unfathomably.
> 
> Cynically, I might suggest that the issue causing the complaints is
> not the spyware, is that you don't get anything in return for it that
> you weren't already receiving.
>