School computers are riddled with spyware & proprietary software, the fact that they use windows is bad enough, but then you are forced to use edge or chrome and other proprietary software and often you are blocked from installing open source alternatives like librewolf or duck duck go may be blocked.

What I am asking is, how can we get around this, do i just need to bring my own laptop using FOSS privacy respecting software. or is there another way around this. Thanks for the help.

  • doodoo_wizard@lemmy.ml
    16·
    2 days ago

    I cannot stress enough how bad of an idea it is to try and use a boot or portable apps usb.

    Schools and companies are generally very alert about that kind of thing due to many many high profile incidents of malware, ransomware, data exfiltration etc, and also all the movies and tv shows.

    Bring your own device is the only way. Bring your own network is often a necessity, so be prepared to tether your phone to your device for internet access.

    You also probably want to look normal too. Swallow your pride and use a mac when you do this and no one will bat an eye. Break out the duct taped together thinkpad at your own risk.

    • alpha1beta@piefed.socialEnglish
      31·
      2 days ago

      Man, back in my day I used to drop portable apps (I was one of the devs) on our network shares and use it that way because it didn’t work from a flash drive. Bur I helped IT so even when they found out many months later, they left me alone.

      • sparky@lemmy.federate.cc@lemmy.federate.cc
        2·
        1 day ago

        I got banned from the school computers one year back in high school for the “crime” of using portable apps off a flash drive! This was back when IE6 was the standard and I wanted to use Firefox. Maybe 2006? Sounds funny now in retrospect but it was pretty annoying at the time.

        • yellerbadger@piefed.socialEnglish
          2·
          12 hours ago

          I once booted Linux off a flash drive on a school PC just to see if I could in like 08-09 and nothing happened to me lol.

        • alpha1beta@piefed.socialEnglish
          3·
          23 hours ago

          Literally, nuts. I imagine that was the end result of a handful of meetings trying to figure out what to do with you.

          • sparky@lemmy.federate.cc@lemmy.federate.cc
            2·
            12 hours ago

            Oh yeah. The principal and the other administrators floated suspension, among other things. My parents had to take off work to come in and fight them with me. The staff were all so hopelessly ignorant of all things IT that they were acting as if I’d been using some kind of malware. After they decided to kick me off, they emailed all my teachers telling them I’d been banned for “hacking” and “deploying computer viruses”. It was all quite surreal. This was in Virginia, USA.