Post #2222334

2026-05-08 01:49 UTC

I&#39;ve seen questions about the #instructure #canvas leak, to the effect of &quot;why&#39;s the data so dangerous if there&#39;s nothing financial in it?&quot; There are identifiers, for one thing. But I think the real threat is... look, students send instructors some really heavy and confidential stuff in Canvas messaging sometimes. Health stuff. Family stuff. Relationship stuff. Occasionally even crime stuff. I really am relieved that I direct students to email. I feel horrible for what could happen.

Replies (3)

@stuartyeates@cloudisland.nz 2026-05-08 02:04

@dsalo@digipres.club Say there are 10 million staff-student conversations. Run them through sentiment analysis looking for ones that imply something improper. Get maybe 10,000 hits. Blackmail the staffer for $$ and the student for pics. If 5% of those staffers pay 10,000 USD each you've covered your costs. If 5% of those students pay in pics, you blackmail their school district for 10,000,000 USD. Release the data of those who haven't paid.

Open ##2373339
@addison@nothing-ever.works 2026-05-08 09:31

@dsalo@digipres.club Yeah, terrified to have these conversations in any digital format to be honest, especially when it can get the students in trouble (e.g., trans/queer folks in Texas).

Open ##2373340
@sarae@ecoevo.social 2026-05-08 14:15

@dsalo@digipres.club it's really hard for me to believe -- and I say this as someone with kids who are affected -- that anyone is going to care enough to sift through this material to try to blackmail students who are notoriously broke I get that this feels like a violation but I don't think making it sound scarier than it actually is helps the people affected

Open ##2373341