GoGuardian: Difference between revisions

(9 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)

Line 1:

GoGuardian Inc. is a software company ~~that focuses~~ on education. They offer a browser ~~extension~~ for Google Chrome ~~that~~ has been known to spy on people~~, give~~ teachers/admins full control to your computer, and prevent suicide. (GoGuardian ~~Beacon).~~ GoGuardian has caused a lot of controversy, ~~since~~ it ~~blocks websites~~.

{{InfoboxCompany

| Name = GoGuardian

| Type = Private

| Founded = 2015

| Industry = Education

| Official Website = https://www.goguardian.com/

| Logo = GoGuardian.png

}}

[[Wikipedia:GoGuardian|'''GoGuardian Inc.''']] is a software company focused on education. They offer browser extensions for Google Chrome and software for Windows called "GoGuardian," which has been known to spy on people. GoGuardian allows teachers/admins to have full control to your computer, block websites, and monitor web traffic. They also offer a product called "GoGuardian Beacon," which does the things previously mentioned as well as prevent suicide.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Youth suicide isn't just an issue — it's a national crisis. |url=https://www.goguardian.com/suicide-self-harm-resources |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250615011048/https://www.goguardian.com/suicide-self-harm-resources |archive-date=2025-06-15 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=GoGuardian}}</ref> GoGuardian has caused a lot of controversy, as it accesses sensitive information, primarily pertaining to students.

==~~Controversies~~==

==Consumer impact summary==

~~GoGuardian, when~~ the ~~extension is only running on Google Chrome without a teacher monitoring, blocks a lot of websites, including privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo and Brave Search.~~

{{Placeholder box|Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):

* User Freedom

* User Privacy

* Business Model

* Market Control}}

~~Due~~ to ~~the fact almost everyone born after the early 2000s has dealt with this software~~, (~~including me~~) ~~it is considered forced spyware~~ with ~~little to no workarounds~~, ~~especially if~~ the ~~school requires students~~ to ~~use~~ school-issued ~~chromebooks~~.

==Incidents==

===Student data collection concerns===

The GoGuardian suite collects a variety of student information, including school account information (name, profile picture, and email address), browsing history, geographic device location, email content, screenshots (which are automatically taken on the user's device and displayed to administrators), and keystroke variance to identify user activity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Product Privacy Policy |url=https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250720182619/https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |archive-date=2025-07-20 |website=GoGuardian |at=§1.4 GoGuardian Personal Student Information}}</ref> Such information may be anonymized and used for GoGuardian product marketing or development.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Product Privacy Policy |url=https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250720182619/https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |archive-date=2025-07-20 |website=GoGuardian |at=§4 How We Disclose Information Collected Through Our Offerings |quote="We may use, share, or disclose De-Identified information (as that term is defined in our EULA) for various purposes such as product development, research, and marketing, in compliance with relevant laws."}}</ref> Several concerns exist surrounding the granularity of the information, including the possibility of such data being [[De-anonymization|de-anonymized]]. Another issue arises due to an overwhelmingly large amount of school-issued devices having GoGuardian installed<ref>{{Cite web |title=GoGuardian {{!}} Engaging Digital Learning For Schools |url=https://goguardian.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250723161808/https://www.goguardian.com/ |archive-date=2025-07-23 |website=GoGuardian |quote="GoGuardian products are used by nearly 50% of public and private K-12 students in the United States."}}</ref> (and often forcibly enabled) by school administrators, which limits the user's ability to restrict data collection and disclosure.

==References==

(personal experience) Teachers have been known to abuse this software, like one of mine from last year who was running it for me all day (when they are only supposed to run it only for the duration of the class, not for the whole day) and set a 3 tab limit, blocked YouTube, and did other bad things.

[[Category:GoGuardian]]

GoGuardian knows what they are doing because on their youtube channel, they disabled comments on their videos. On some videos, they disabled like and dislike count but on others, the dislike percent is very high, usually 90-95%. (Data obtained from Return Youtube Dislike Extension)

~~==Workarounds==~~

~~There are a few workarounds, like going to task manager (Shift+Esc) and ending the GoGuardian process. Some schools have disabled ending processes as a result.~~

~~Another workaround is using your own laptop with a browser other than Google Chrome.~~

==~~Sources~~==

~~https:~~/~~/www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/10/how-goguardian-invades-student-privacy?language=en~~

~~https~~:~~//www.goguardian.com/~~

~~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoGuardian~~

~~https://www.youtube.com/@~~GoGuardian

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-GoGuardian Inc. is a software company that focuses on education. They offer a browser extension for Google Chrome that has been known to spy on people, give teachers/admins full control to your computer, and prevent suicide. (GoGuardian Beacon). GoGuardian has caused a lot of controversy, since it blocks websites.
+{{InfoboxCompany
+| Name = GoGuardian
+| Type = Private
+| Founded = 2015
+| Industry = Education
+| Official Website = https://www.goguardian.com/
+| Logo = GoGuardian.png
+}}
+[[Wikipedia:GoGuardian|'''GoGuardian Inc.''']] is a software company focused on education. They offer browser extensions for Google Chrome and software for Windows called "GoGuardian," which has been known to spy on people. GoGuardian allows teachers/admins to have full control to your computer, block websites, and monitor web traffic. They also offer a product called "GoGuardian Beacon," which does the things previously mentioned as well as prevent suicide.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Youth suicide isn't just an issue — it's a national crisis. |url=https://www.goguardian.com/suicide-self-harm-resources |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250615011048/https://www.goguardian.com/suicide-self-harm-resources |archive-date=2025-06-15 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=GoGuardian}}</ref> GoGuardian has caused a lot of controversy, as it accesses sensitive information, primarily pertaining to students.
-==Controversies==
+==Consumer impact summary==
-GoGuardian, when the extension is only running on Google Chrome without a teacher monitoring, blocks a lot of websites, including privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo and Brave Search.
+{{Placeholder box|Overview of concerns that arise from the company's conduct regarding (if applicable):
+* User Freedom
+* User Privacy
+* Business Model
+* Market Control}}
-Due to the fact almost everyone born after the early 2000s has dealt with this software, (including me) it is considered forced spyware with little to no workarounds, especially if the school requires students to use school-issued chromebooks.
+==Incidents==
+===Student data collection concerns===
+The GoGuardian suite collects a variety of student information, including school account information (name, profile picture, and email address), browsing history, geographic device location, email content, screenshots (which are automatically taken on the user's device and displayed to administrators), and keystroke variance to identify user activity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Product Privacy Policy |url=https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250720182619/https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |archive-date=2025-07-20 |website=GoGuardian |at=§1.4 GoGuardian Personal Student Information}}</ref> Such information may be anonymized and used for GoGuardian product marketing or development.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Product Privacy Policy |url=https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250720182619/https://www.goguardian.com/policies/product-privacy |archive-date=2025-07-20 |website=GoGuardian |at=§4 How We Disclose Information Collected Through Our Offerings |quote="We may use, share, or disclose De-Identified information (as that term is defined in our EULA) for various purposes such as product development, research, and marketing, in compliance with relevant laws."}}</ref> Several concerns exist surrounding the granularity of the information, including the possibility of such data being [[De-anonymization|de-anonymized]]. Another issue arises due to an overwhelmingly large amount of school-issued devices having GoGuardian installed<ref>{{Cite web |title=GoGuardian {{!}} Engaging Digital Learning For Schools |url=https://goguardian.com |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250723161808/https://www.goguardian.com/ |archive-date=2025-07-23 |website=GoGuardian |quote="GoGuardian products are used by nearly 50% of public and private K-12 students in the United States."}}</ref> (and often forcibly enabled) by school administrators, which limits the user's ability to restrict data collection and disclosure.
+==References==
-(personal experience) Teachers have been known to abuse this software, like one of mine from last year who was running it for me all day (when they are only supposed to run it only for the duration of the class, not for the whole day) and set a 3 tab limit, blocked YouTube, and did other bad things.
+<references />
+[[Category:GoGuardian]]
-GoGuardian knows what they are doing because on their youtube channel, they disabled comments on their videos. On some videos, they disabled like and dislike count but on others, the dislike percent is very high, usually 90-95%. (Data obtained from Return Youtube Dislike Extension)
-==Workarounds==
-There are a few workarounds, like going to task manager (Shift+Esc) and ending the GoGuardian process. Some schools have disabled ending processes as a result.
-Another workaround is using your own laptop with a browser other than Google Chrome.
-==Sources==
-https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/10/how-goguardian-invades-student-privacy?language=en
-https://www.goguardian.com/
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoGuardian
-https://www.youtube.com/@GoGuardian