from Hacker News

For the sixth year, Algeria blocks internet to prevent cheating during exams

by wlkr on 7/6/23, 5:06 PM with 66 comments

• by brutusborn on 7/6/23, 5:34 PM

  I wonder how many of the more technologically sophisticated students setup p2p networks.

  In high school one of the better Calculus students in my class had written a script using his graphics calculator. The script could complete certain classes of problem automatically while showing every step of workings. Kinda like the p2p network: the kids with the skill to set it up probably don’t need any extra help on the exams.

• by crop_rotation on 7/6/23, 5:47 PM

  Blocking internet to prevent cheating is absurdly stupid as the cost to any nation's economy must be non trivial. Why can't they just take all the devices for students entering examination halls.

• by tiagod on 7/6/23, 5:38 PM

  Quite visible in Cloudflare Radar: https://radar.cloudflare.com/dz?dateRange=7d

  (Disclaimer: I work on this product)

• by EMIRELADERO on 7/6/23, 5:46 PM

  I don't see enough commentary on the social issues behind this.

  There should be no exam in which the stakes are high enough to justify those measures.

• by constantcrying on 7/6/23, 6:24 PM

  It is obviously a non-solution which exists so that you can pretend the problem is "solved", while doing nothing.

  Many countries manage to do standardized (or semi-standardized) testing without shutting down the internet. When I took mine, we were in a large hall with several teacher present and had precisely the materials allowed on our tables.

  Shuttibg down the internet speaks of an enormous distrust towards the test takers and high degrees of suspicion towards teachers for tolerating cheating.

• by dang on 7/6/23, 5:51 PM

  Recent and related:

  Algeria cuts internet nationwide during the baccalaureat exams - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36285086 - June 2023 (163 comments)

  Also:

  Algeria turns off its internet to keep students from cheating on exams – CNN - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17393923 - June 2018 (1 comment)

  Algeria shuts down internet to prevent cheating during high school exams - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17363270 - June 2018 (4 comments)

  Also—loosely related and sparsely commented:

  Internet goes dark for millions in Indian state's bid to stop exam cheats - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28686329 - Sept 2021 (0 comments)

  Indian state cuts internet to prevent cheating in exam - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28670023 - Sept 2021 (0 comments)

  Exam Cheats Cited in Three-Day Internet Shutdown in Ethiopia - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20180544 - June 2019 (1 comment)

  Total Internet Shutdown in Ethiopia - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20163896 - June 2019 (1 comment)

  Ethiopia shut down its internet to prevent exam cheating - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14456234 - May 2017 (0 comments)

  Iraq shuts down internet nationwide to prevent students from cheating on exams - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11736257 - May 2016 (0 comments)

  Iraq shuts down entire country's internet to “prevent cheating” - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11719094 - May 2016 (0 comments)

• by ankaAr on 7/6/23, 6:25 PM

  If cheating during exams is the major concern, then there is something really bad going on, and if blocking internet is their solution, that is a sing of what their solutions are.

• by 1letterunixname on 7/6/23, 8:03 PM

  Instead of treating all students like criminals, proctor exams like the rest of the civilized world. Blocking internet or mobile phone service is using a rocket launcher to squash a fly.

  Or, you can go full Stanford and just trust students blindly like it's still 1891.

  https://communitystandards.stanford.edu/policies-guidance/ho...

• by AndyMcConachie on 7/6/23, 6:56 PM

  When I lived in India I lived through scheduled power outages every day. What's the big deal?

  You don't get Internet for a few hours on a single day. Who cares?

  Go outside.

• by whorleater on 7/6/23, 5:50 PM

  Why is this news? Iraq does this, Jordan does this, it's common throughout the region to block internet. It's not effective, and usually there are carveouts (office internet still works, usually it's only cellular and public internet, etc). When I was living in Iraq this was just something you dealt with, like a rolling blackout once a while.

• by nisegami on 7/6/23, 6:31 PM

  Anyone suggesting measures that happen locally where the exams are written misses the point that in a lot of societies, there is a lot less trust in your fellow citizens to behave fairly.

• by Given_47 on 7/6/23, 5:35 PM

  Must’ve not occurred to them that if students simply looking things up is such a massive concern maybe you should test something else?

• by linusg789 on 7/6/23, 6:41 PM

  I wonder how much money the economy in Algeria loses due to the lack of internet during this time period

• by wrp on 7/6/23, 10:56 PM

  Wouldn't it be much simpler to have a "no phones" policy at testing sites?

• by oneTbrain23 on 7/6/23, 10:25 PM

  In Asia, their high school exam calculator has no graphics calculating capabability. Vast majority of questions doable with just pen and paper and loga book without needing calculator. Heck I even heard of students having broken calculator in exam and still come out scoring A. BTW, the examinable math there are near not doable by western students until they are in their 2nd or 3rd year engineering uni/college. Everytime I see those 15-18 year olds doing math in western hemisphere tapping their fancy 200usd calculators, I always chuckle knowing they would ended up buying stuff from China and Korea with all their math done already for them. And they complained jobs being outsourced...while they actively pursue gender studies.

• by Jemm on 7/6/23, 5:34 PM

  How does this stop cheating? I can still think of a dozen ways to get a network wirelessly.