UNSW has recently announced that they will be pushing to use Exanmity to conduct online examinations. Examnity software is extremely invasive and creates security, privacy and accessibility issues, and this is of serious concern to students. The utilisation of software like Examnity is designed to be extremely punitive and intimidatory. This overreach is extreme, particularly in the circumstances of COVID-19, in which studies have been severely disrupted, and when many students have lost employment and/or been forced to move home.

Students should face NO negative consequences for their studies based on results from COVID-19 affected studies.

So what's wrong with Examnity?

Examnity enables exams to be recorded on students’ devices while being monitored by an online supervisor, and collects highly invasive information about students.

Information available on Examnity's website details the regular collection of:

the name of the student’s parent or other family members

the address of the student or student’s family

personal identifiers such as the student number or biometric record

student’s date of birth

driver’s license number or state-issued identification card number

financial account number, credit card number, or debit card number with or without any required security code, access code, personal identification number or password, that would permit access to an individual’s financial account

webcam and computer screen data. This may be monitored, viewed, recorded, and/or audited, including by Examity, proctors, and university and/or test sanctioning body staff.

The policy explicitly acknowledges that this data is regularly disclosed to third parties.

Examnity also requires students to surrender total control of their computer, with administrator privileges, to a stranger on the other side of the world. The person remote controlling the computer has the ability to change security settings, download private files from the student and run any script that they want. Examnity's Terms of Service waive them of any responsibility should a student be infected with malware as a result of using their service. In addition, not all students have access to computers that can run Examnity software, presenting an accessibility barrier, and one which is accentuated by issues of student poverty and class.

The fight so far:

Monash University has decided to scrap plans to use Examnity software to conduct end-of-Semester exams following a fight by students about the intrusive nature of the software which you can support here: https://bit.ly/2XjpQo4

Several Unit of Study coordinators at the University of Sydney have also committed to not using ProctorU, a similarly invasive examination software - you can support their fight here https://www.change.org/p/sydney-university-stop-usyd-using-proctoru-for-exams/u/26303246.

Support the fight at UNSW:

Students should not be penalised for any disruption to studies produced by the COVID-19 outbreak. The university's attempts to introduce Examnity represent an extremely punitive approach to examinations that should be opposed entirely!

Similarly invasive exam software has been successfully stopped in the past, and we can stop it again! But we will need to keep up pressure on the university to do that. Every signature counts.

Shovan Bhattarai, UNSW SRC Education Officer