The Examplify software UWA is planning to use to invigilate 2020 Semester 1 exams is a huge privacy and security risk for students.

The problems with Examplify:

Monitors your webcam and microphone

Records your screen

Logs your keypresses

Uses AI to monitor these recordings and flag them for human review

Modifies your computer's system files

May require you to disable your antivirus

Collects your phone number and email address

May disclose your personal data with their marketing partners

This is information UWA shouldn't even be collecting themselves, let alone having it handled by a third party company based in the US.

Despite all these invasive measures, this will not prevent academic misconduct [4]. Circumventing the system is as simple as taping notes above your computer, or having a friend sitting out of view.

UWA has released this information just days before the census date, meaning any students who want to drop their units to opt out of this monitoring will not be able to get a refund.

We request the UWA Vice-Chancellery put the rights of their students to privacy in their own homes and on their own computers above their desire to continue running traditional format exams. Traditional format invigilated exams are not necessary for a fair academic assessment, and the university should instead focus on producing fair assessments that don't require invading their students' privacy. Better alternatives include take-home papers and projects, or open-book tests which do not require invigilation.

In the event UWA chooses to continue with the use of Examplify, we encourage a student boycott of the system, and request the university provide refunds to those not willing to consent to monitoring.

Please consider using your UWA student email to sign this petition to prove you are a student.

UPDATE: If you haven't already, fill out the Guild's Examplify survey.

Citations:

[1]https://www.web.uwa.edu.au/novel-coronavirus/online-exam-faq

[2]https://examsoft.com/privacy-policy

[3]https://blog.billwu.org/2016/06/technology-for-technologys-sake-look-at.html

[4]https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjet.12246

[5]https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5000/2dde316aaaa6436ff84e5d3fe85548b7acae.pdf