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.
If you think you’ve hidden from surveillance software, you’ve just been tolerated. You don’t need some advanced VM detection/Linux file system scanning software to recognise that the kid in the back sitting on his laptop hasn’t had the software check in for two years.
As for the privacy violations, read up on your local privacy law. File a complaint with your local data protection agency or similar institution if you think your rights are being violated. Google and Microsoft cloud environments are completely legal in many EU countries, so they’ll have to use some pretty weird software to violate your legal rights. I believe France and maybe Belgium have put restrictions on certain cloud software for schools, but others have made deals with cloud companies to make their education products comply, so you would probably not have your rights violated in those countries.
The courts will balance your right to privacy against the school’s obligation to educate you and keep you safe. In some American states, for example, schools are on the hook if kids look up porn in laptops given to them by schools (even in their home WiFi).
I doubt they’ll be able to detect you booting into Linux (at best they’ll detect your Linux boot drive), but they can easily push an update to disable your ability to do so through secure boot keys, if they wanted to. It’s their computer, so they can lock it down as much as they want, and they’ll take physical possession of the device if need be.
Unless you’ve paid for the laptop with your own money (and without a significant subsidy from your school), that laptop isn’t yours. If you manage to beat the system, you’ve probably violated the terms of the loan and they could just have you hand in your laptop after which you or your parents will have to buy a new one that follows their specifications. Look at it this way: if you lend someone your phone to make a phone call and they start removing apps and installing custom ROMs, you’d probably be annoyed too.
Do yourself a favour and get yourself a computer of your own if you want to mess with Linux. Not having to worry about evading detection mechanisms will give you much better flexibility in terms of setup, configuration, and reinstalls. I’m not sure if €50 is enough for a usable laptop, but you can always try. It’s not as if school computers are known for their performance.
Alternatively, you could experiment with something like a Raspberry Pi. They’re back in stock in many places and plenty fast to mess with Linux.
Your only viable alternative for the school laptop would be to talk to IT and get them to ignore your trickery, but it sounds like you’ve already pissed them off at some point.
Edir: based ik your earlier post you seem to have quite a powerful desktop computer. You can turn any laptop thst runs Windows or Linux into a thin client that can connect to your desktop at home. You may even be able to use the standard Windows RDP client on your school laptop without the admins noticing anything. Thst approach would require you to have your computer on at all times and to have decent internet available from wherever you connect, but it would save you a lot on hardware cost for your portable machine.