GoGuardian

GoGuardian
Basic information
Founded	2015
Type	Private
Industry	Education
Official website	https://www.goguardian.com/

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.^[1] GoGuardian has caused a lot of controversy, as it accesses sensitive information, primarily pertaining to students.

Consumer impact summary

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

User Freedom
User Privacy
Business Model
Market Control

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Incidents

Student data collection concerns (2023)

According to a study in 2023, school administrators using the GoGuardian admin tool have access to student "browsing histories, documents, videos, app and extension data, and content filtering and alerts."^[2] GoGuardian claims "they de-identify data before sharing it with third parties or other entities", though it is reported the data can be deanominized.^[2] This is an issue as students in American school districts are under the age of 18, which if advertised to with targeted ads based on their GoGuardian data is a direct violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Also, students who utilize this software as a service (SAAS) are forced into using school devices with the monitoring software preinstalled, such as Chromebooks.

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.

References

↑ "Youth suicide isn't just an issue — it's a national crisis". GoGuardian. Archived from the original on 2025-06-15. Retrieved 2025-06-17.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Kelley, Jason (30 Oct 2023). "How GoGuardian Invades Student Privacy". EFF. Retrieved 15 Mar 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[1] "Youth suicide isn't just an issue — it's a national crisis". GoGuardian. Archived from the original on 2025-06-15. Retrieved 2025-06-17.

[EFF-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Kelley, Jason (30 Oct 2023). "How GoGuardian Invades Student Privacy". EFF. Retrieved 15 Mar 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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