Signature Track

[Maria B. Schaler]

Hi,

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 11:13 PM, Maurice McCarthy
<moss at mythic-beasts.com> wrote:
> But then they want to verify who you are and what do they want to do this? A photo
> from your webcam of yourself, a keyboard finger print to associate with you and a
> photo of a valid ID document such as a drivers license. The latter they promise to
> delete once they can see that you are you.
>
> Here are 2 screen dumps of the tracking process as they explain it.
>
> 1. http://ubuntuone.com/3PBTfO0UENZO8yS8xvVqcF
> 2. http://ubuntuone.com/55qqbqJQkWXoIokhzVPY31

you should avoid that ubuntu stuff if you really care

> 1. Gathering the keyboard fingerprint presumable means running some arbitrary piece
> of code on my computer. This code is clearly a highly refined key-logger and
> therefore a grave threat to my personal and financial details. I would not submit to
> Signature Track with out the source code so that I can read, verify and compile it
> myself. Therefore may I have this code please?

if it's in a webbrowser, it's probably just javascript connected to an
input field, not a full blown keylogger

> 2. How do I know you've deleted the photo of my drivers license?

you don't - there is no way to verify

> 3. In an age when personal details are saleable what reason do I have to  trust the
> morality of the people behind Coursera and Signature Track?

one reason would be called pragmatism - who are we kidding, there are
more people that just want that certificate than people that aren't
willing to share information about themselves for it

> I've posted these questions on the discussion forum of the course itself where the
> system automatically flagged it as 'unresolved' to the course lecturers and
> assistants who are, of course, all philosophers. Next week's lecture happens to be
> about morality.

sorry that they don't share your appreciation for related meta discussions

mbs