HUxIR

by Platform for the defense of college students rigths (HUxIR) – learn more, and join the conversation at twitter hashtag : #indignacionUNIR

Last week the authorities of the International University of La Rioja (Universidad Internacional de La Rioja also know as UNIR) confirmed its students that this next round of exams they will be asking them to use the SMOWL+ biometric surveillance software in combination with the SMOWL CM computer surveillance suite. The SMOWL CM suite should be installed at least 5 days in a round, this means at least on SUNDAY for being able to be at the exams of next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. A full week with an invasive software that ask to open ports in the user’s firewall, tweak its antivirus or disable it, and ask for changes on the OS of the user.

So, in resume, this college is not only asking their students to resign to its rights to intimacy and excessive use of their data, but also to give access to any data of 3rd users they could have in their computer. You share the laptop with family members? College and 3rd party software company will have access to that. You work in the same computer? Them you will be giving access to clients and company info that put you in a legal problem as you will be broking the GPRD law and the confidence asked by your contract.

So, what previous experience has Spain with this software? In 2020 some other Colleges (UNED, Universidad de Granda, and others) tried to use it, and after asking to the Spanish Agency of Data Protection (AEPD) they desisted and switched to a less invasive option. In their report about this issue the AEPD affirms that taking the current Spanish and European Laws there’s 3 things that happens here:

• 1. There’s no chance of Students to give a valid consent to their data treatment in these cases. Law is clear, consent should be free to be valid. Also there should be a equilibrium of power between the contract part. In this case the Student can’t say no, or think about it and retake their consent, without suffering a damage. Also there s a institution in power charge, college, and a simple student, this brooks the needed equilibrium.
• 2. There should be a equilibrium between the means and the risk their imply. A balance, that the agency sees that based in the justice sentences is not meet in this case. As there s less invasive forms of accomplishing the same thing, theres no way one can choose to go for the more harmfull option.
• 3. This kind of protected data is not just a identification, that could be achieved without consent if needed by state or organizations for some uses. This is a especial kind of data as the system not just identify the person, but also track it bio-metrically for hours checking against data base host int Amazon Cloud (AWS) and builds a profile and scoring of the student. The Spanish Data Protection Agency states that this kind of treatment is as sensible as information about health, religion, political affiliation, and sexual orientation, and can’t be done without a organic law passed by the congress. That Law doesn’t exist.

Agency also states that the students are not unknow to the College, they had been identifying them all the time during the course, without the need of this systems. They send works, and take part in classes and that gives them a numeric note for the semester. Also online education exists before covid, so the pandemia is no excuse to go further into rights violations. It recommends to go for better exams, that check knowledge instead of memory.

Also, the Ministry of College sent another report, where they check the problems of this systems, and opt out education centres to go for other options. In this list they talk about false positives, discrimination to minority’s bye the AI, problems of the system to comply with current European and Spanish laws and others.

Students are also angry not just for data breakage, and intimacy violations, but also to thinks like not covering their ears that put Muslim females into choosing to go by their culture and traditions or obey their college. There s also complains about the damage this stress and pressure puts to students with stress and psychological disorders, and the discrimination against people with disabilities that have the right to be with a tutor or helper by law, and it will be flagged as cheating the exams.

Also this things goes against the contracts signed between students and the college, when they payed for this course, the rules were different, and this is happening a month before examens after a full year of COVID without changes.

So they are asking for their rights to be respected, and that the college don’t broke the law and respect the rulings of the authorities.