iTalc at School :|

[joshdudeha]

They started using iTalc at school to look at peoples computers "silently" now.
It's on Windows, but I was wondering.
The application is running off an application called ica.exe in the task manager,
If I were to end this process, would that close the program on the computer, therefore disabling them to look at my computer?
I'm not doing anything bad, I just feel slightly against this, big brother?, thing

[Mehall]

They started using iTalc at school to look at peoples computers "silently" now.
It's on Windows, but I was wondering.
The application is running off an application called ica.exe in the task manager,
If I were to end this process, would that close the program on the computer, therefore disabling them to look at my computer?
I'm not doing anything bad, I just feel slightly against this, big brother?, thing

I would be surprised if they give you rights to end that process, but yes, if you can end it, they can;t spy on you actively (though they can always track your internet traffic)

[Skripka]

If the iTalc writes, and the sysadmins have any brains--closing the *.exe should set off alarms at the admins terminal...or crash the machine.

That being said...often times the "Big Brother" software implementations by school sysadmin aren't always thought thru.

[joshdudeha]

Hmm, well we have access to the task manager and the rights to close process.
But I don't know.
It's all part of this "Virtual Learning Environment" called Frog Server.
Man, I hate it.
.

[joshdudeha]

and if they caught me, I'd probably get totally done.

[rick71]

If the iTalc writes, and the sysadmins have any brains--closing the *.exe should set off alarms at the admins terminal...or crash the machine.

That being said...often times the "Big Brother" software implementations by school sysadmin aren't always thought thru.

First. iTalc is used for more than monitoring. It can be used for remote assistance, and more.

Second, if students refined from unauthorized use of the computer and/or network, monitoring software would be less needed.

[rick71]

They started using iTalc at school to look at peoples computers "silently" now.
It's on Windows, but I was wondering.
The application is running off an application called ica.exe in the task manager,
If I were to end this process, would that close the program on the computer, therefore disabling them to look at my computer?
I'm not doing anything bad, I just feel slightly against this, big brother?, thing

If you have root/admin privileges, it is possible to stop the iTalc service. However, I am sure that would be a violation of the network and/or computer use policies.

And remember, the network is not yours to abuse.

[dragos240]

You know, i bet you could just bring an ubuntu cd or USB disk into school and boot from it, wouldn't that solve the problem?

[Vince4Amy]

We use Ranger Remote Control from Sentinel products to do a similar thing. We've locked down Task Manager too so that nobody can close the process. And if they do it will throw them off the network. If there is something not right with Ranger it will throw ANY network user off, even Network admin. The only profile which has permission to stay on is Local Admin for obvious reasons.

You know, i bet you could just bring an ubuntu cd or USB disk into school and boot from it, wouldn't that solve the problem?

Discuss that with your Administrator. Though if they have gone the extra mile like we did, you won't be able get on the Internet as an ISA Server or something similar will deny you access so without the Internet and access to the network (Unless you tweak around SAMBA) it will pretty useless.

[dragos240]

Thats why i like ubuntu, stupid spyware...