Scanning students' rooms during remote tests is unconstitutional, judge rules

In what's believed to be the first case of its kind, a student argued that his university violated his Fourth Amendment rights when it asked him for a webcam recording of his testing space. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

The remote-proctored exam that colleges began using widely during the pandemic saw a first big legal test of its own — one that concluded in a ruling applauded by digital privacy advocates.

A federal judge this week sided with a student at Cleveland State University in Ohio, who alleged that a room scan taken before his online test as a proctoring measure was unconstitutional.