Last year, Gateway and many schools used Zoom, a meeting service with horrible infrastructure (to say the least) and worse privacy practices.
In January, 2021, I emailed about replacing it with Jitsi Meet: but “we currently pay for Zoom and that contract is for a year.” According to this vendor history, Gateway has spent at least $9 833.54. These services were procured right before the year started, on August 31, 2020, with Title I funds!
Throughout last year, Gateway has told students that they must sign in with Google. They implemented Zoom into Google SSO authentication:
First, this gives access to heaps of educational records and personally identifiable information which would otherwise require parental consent to disclose. …
Second, in the Chromebook app for Zoom, you must use the Zoom app to sign in to Google and not the browser or even the OS itself. This gives Zoom the ability to log the password typed. There is no way to confirm this is an official Google login screen or a phishing attempt from Zoom.