Due to the ongoing pandemic, many jurisdictions—except those plunging ahead with superspreader events—are opting to hold a remote bar examination. Passing the bar exam is currently required for a law school graduate to practice law in most cases. But it is extremely unlikely that jurisdictions have the ability to build out the infrastructure to securely administer a remote bar exam, especially on only a few months’ notice.

Just last week, the American Board of Surgery had to cancel the remote administration of a qualifying exam part of the way through after issues in presenting the questions. There have since been so many reports that examinees' credit card information and personal data were compromised during the exam that the ABS is launching an investigation into the breach. Because it is standard for remote proctoring software to require a high level of access to the examinee’s computer, potential lawyers will be forced to make themselves and their data extremely vulnerable in order to take the exam.

Beyond just the possibility of hacking, some remote exams are proctored using facial recognition software, raising serious concerns about the privacy of examinees biometric information, algorithmic bias, and misidentification. And when human proctors have been used, there have been isolated reports of stalking and harassment of examinees. For a huge cohort of would-be attorneys, including the entire class of 2020, exposure to these dangers is not optional if they wish to practice law.

Remotely proctored bar exams are not the solution to the current crisis. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/19/remote-bar-exams-for-aspiring.html