this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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Hi. My school just started issuing devices last year, and they have this Lightspeed spyware on them. Last year I was able to remove it by booting into Linux from a flash drive and moving the files to a separate drive and then back at the end of the year. This year I have heard from sources that they have ways of detecting someone booting from Linux so I am hesitant to do that option. My only other idea is to buy an old laptop off eBay that looks like it and install Linux on it. I could probably get one for about 50€. Does anyone have any cheaper ideas?

Oh also talking to IT isn’t an option.

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It’s a laptop owned by your school, so they can install spyware if they want to. More importantly the school likely has policies against removing or otherwise tampering with it. You would be wise to find out what they will do if you violate this policy. It could be anything from a slap on the wrist to expulsion.

Any decent IT department will eventually figure out if you disable it. They’ll know fairly quickly if it stops “phoning in” if the spyware is any good.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Like all school rules, they are incredibly vague and the punishment is whatever they see fit. I kid you not, “no hacking” is one of the rules.