screen monitoring

D

dawtips

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
413
So I run a computer lab at a university, and I need a way to visually see what the user is seeing on their screen from my computer. The problem I have here, is that people tend to look at inappropriate stuff and by the time I am able to walk around and see it, they have already closed/minimized what they were looking at. So I need a way to centrally view their screen, be it a live feed or a screenshot.

Any suggestions on a program that can do this?
 
my school uses 'synchroneyes' in our newer computer labs. Once the computer loads windows, (assuming the 'teacher' computer is already running) it automatically connects the software to the teacher's computer. They have viewable windows of each computer connected, and can do alot of stuff to them. for example, they can: go from thumbnail view of all the computers, to a full screen of any specific computer. control the mouse/keyboard of any computer at any given time, or freeze the mouse and keyboard as well. You can also make all the screens go blank and say 'eyes up front please' or something like that. Sorry i dont know anymore, as i'm just a student at my school. There is also integrated chat with the program, either between everyone, or the teacher can assign 'groups' to be able to communicate with eachother, or disable it altogether. The only way to get around it is to exit out of it before the teacher can get on their computer, so the program has nothing to connect to and can be easily exited then (it cant once its connected though, even through the task manager). more info here. Again i am only a student, and its a pain the a$$ (from my perspective :D which i guess is a good thing for you) I dont know anything about the pricing of it
 
Is this just you being lazy or are your higher-ups actually trying to implement this? If the latter, I can't imagine that it'd go over very well with most student bodies and there'd be an absolute outrage if it came to light that this was being done without informed consent of users (a blurb in the AUP isn't enough, I'm talking about signs placed in a clearly visible place in the lab).

From a privacy standpoint there is a major difference between having the occassional passerby glancing at your screen and having somebody actually being able to watch your screen. On top of that, there's the whole respect thing - by doing this, you're treating adults as untrustworthy children.

...and everyone knows the biggest abusers of porn on campus are faculty and staff.
 
ameoba said:
Is this just you being lazy or are your higher-ups actually trying to implement this? If the latter, I can't imagine that it'd go over very well with most student bodies and there'd be an absolute outrage if it came to light that this was being done without informed consent of users (a blurb in the AUP isn't enough, I'm talking about signs placed in a clearly visible place in the lab).

From a privacy standpoint there is a major difference between having the occassional passerby glancing at your screen and having somebody actually being able to watch your screen. On top of that, there's the whole respect thing - by doing this, you're treating adults as untrustworthy children.

...and everyone knows the biggest abusers of porn on campus are faculty and staff.
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Well, they are using university purchased machines, and bandwidth. I agree some sort of mention that you are being closely monitored should be done, which might actually discourage such behavior, some college students are even less mature then high school students. If you want to look at porn, do it in your dorm room, at least a teacher has an office so people don't have to look at it with him.
 
Why wouldn't the university already have its proxy servers block inappropriate content?

ameoba said:
...and everyone knows the biggest abusers of porn on campus are faculty and staff.
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They do? Was there a study done, or something?
 
Xipher said:
Well, they are using university purchased machines, and bandwidth. I agree some sort of mention that you are being closely monitored should be done, which might actually discourage such behavior, some college students are even less mature then high school students. If you want to look at porn, do it in your dorm room, at least a teacher has an office so people don't have to look at it with him.
Click to expand...

Privacy issues galore in an educational institution. Just one example - a student is looking at their grades/financial aid etc online. Student lab monitors have no need or right to see this information. This sort of monitoring software would potentially give them access to it (which they wouldn't have if they were looking at the screen from a distance).

Ever hear of FERPA?

makeblas said:
Why wouldn't the university already have its proxy servers block inappropriate content?
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This is a losing battle and not worth trying. Blacklists are worthless - there's too much porn on the internet to index it all & it's constantly expanding. Word filtering is worthless - too many false positives. Image recognition is nowhere near advanced enough to be useful and would be computationally prohibitive if it was.

You might have a good argument for trying at a high school where there's liability issues with minors but, even then, it's ineffective but you have to CYA. At a college, where 99% of the student body is over 18, it's not worth the time and effort.
 
ameoba said:
Is this just you being lazy or are your higher-ups actually trying to implement this? If the latter, I can't imagine that it'd go over very well with most student bodies and there'd be an absolute outrage if it came to light that this was being done without informed consent of users (a blurb in the AUP isn't enough, I'm talking about signs placed in a clearly visible place in the lab).

From a privacy standpoint there is a major difference between having the occassional passerby glancing at your screen and having somebody actually being able to watch your screen. On top of that, there's the whole respect thing - by doing this, you're treating adults as untrustworthy children.

...and everyone knows the biggest abusers of porn on campus are faculty and staff.
Click to expand...

This certainly isn't me being lazy. This is me taking action after months of posting signs, warning users, kicking users out, etc etc.

I am sick and tired of poking my head up, seeing something might be going on, and by the time I get there, the window has been closed. Some of the things these students view are very disrespectful to others around them.

In regards to how I would implement this, well, it is a public university so I highly doubt I could legally do it. But I will propose it to my boss and it will likely get taken to the governing student-body for their consideration as well. The governing student-body would be responsible for notifying everyone of my new all-powerful ability.
 
ameoba said:
Privacy issues galore in an educational institution. Just one example - a student is looking at their grades/financial aid etc online. Student lab monitors have no need or right to see this information. This sort of monitoring software would potentially give them access to it (which they wouldn't have if they were looking at the screen from a distance).

Ever hear of FERPA?
Click to expand...

But, if they are looking at the information in a publicly available area, such as this computer lab, are they entitled to that privacy?
 
Billiam411 said:
my school uses 'synchroneyes' in our newer computer labs. Once the computer loads windows, (assuming the 'teacher' computer is already running) it automatically connects the software to the teacher's computer. They have viewable windows of each computer connected, and can do alot of stuff to them. for example, they can: go from thumbnail view of all the computers, to a full screen of any specific computer. control the mouse/keyboard of any computer at any given time, or freeze the mouse and keyboard as well. You can also make all the screens go blank and say 'eyes up front please' or something like that. Sorry i dont know anymore, as i'm just a student at my school. There is also integrated chat with the program, either between everyone, or the teacher can assign 'groups' to be able to communicate with eachother, or disable it altogether. The only way to get around it is to exit out of it before the teacher can get on their computer, so the program has nothing to connect to and can be easily exited then (it cant once its connected though, even through the task manager). more info here. Again i am only a student, and its a pain the a$$ (from my perspective :D which i guess is a good thing for you) I dont know anything about the pricing of it
Click to expand...


This is the product I was going to suggest. Very good at what it does. There is a similar product called VisionClient (something like that - not sure if that s completely accurate.) But both can monitor screens - locks screens - take control of screens whatever you want basically.
 
Billiam411 said:
my school uses 'synchroneyes' in our newer computer labs. Once the computer loads windows, (assuming the 'teacher' computer is already running) it automatically connects the software to the teacher's computer. They have viewable windows of each computer connected, and can do alot of stuff to them. for example, they can: go from thumbnail view of all the computers, to a full screen of any specific computer. control the mouse/keyboard of any computer at any given time, or freeze the mouse and keyboard as well. You can also make all the screens go blank and say 'eyes up front please' or something like that. Sorry i dont know anymore, as i'm just a student at my school. There is also integrated chat with the program, either between everyone, or the teacher can assign 'groups' to be able to communicate with eachother, or disable it altogether. The only way to get around it is to exit out of it before the teacher can get on their computer, so the program has nothing to connect to and can be easily exited then (it cant once its connected though, even through the task manager). more info here. Again i am only a student, and its a pain the a$$ (from my perspective :D which i guess is a good thing for you) I dont know anything about the pricing of it
Click to expand...

that is freaking awesome, thank you sir
 
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