Can School Go Through Our Phones?

Recent events, it had been discovered that when we signed up to join my school, we also signed the right to allow them to search through our phones if they suspected anything sus going on. I just want to know how legal this is.

Reply 1

GabiAbi84

Original post by toxicJub

Are you in England?

Reply 2

toxicJub

Original post by GabiAbi84

Are you in England?

yep

Reply 3

username5448082

I mean even if they don’t “check your phones”, they’ll still have access to do it through the wifi network. Don’t connect to the schools wifi unless using incognito mode - or unless you don’t care about them tracking your IP / history.

Reply 4

GabiAbi84

Original post by toxicJub

yep

https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/school-powers-to-search-and-screen-pupils/

Then yes, they have the legal power to do so.

Reply 5

StriderHort

Children just don't get data privacy in the same way.

Reply 6

username5417586

tb to the days everyone at my school was freaking out about their phones potentially being searched. can’t even remember what that drama was all about loll ✌🏻🤪✌🏻

Reply 7

username5417586

^ they weren’t searched in the end. but the paranoia that day was intense 😂

Reply 8

username5383500

Original post by studentbioch3m

I mean even if they don’t “check your phones”, they’ll still have access to do it through the wifi network.

No they won't. Connecting to WiFi does not allow someone full access to check through your phone.

Reply 9

Apachecow

Original post by toxicJub

As much as anything it is to protect vulnerable people. It seems perfectly reasonable. What on earth should someone still at school have on their phone that somehow incriminates them?

Reply 10

username5383500

Original post by Apachecow

As much as anything it is to protect vulnerable people. It seems perfectly reasonable. What on earth should someone still at school have on their phone that somehow incriminates them?

The way you've worded this is interesting. If one would expect students at school not to have anything incriminating on their phones to begin with, there would be no cause to search them. Yet it's perfectly reasonable to do so, with reasonable suspicion. This is contradictory. Of course the arbitrary searching of students phones would be a gross invasion of privacy.

Reply 11

username5448082

Original post by AcseI

No they won't. Connecting to WiFi does not allow someone full access to check through your phone.

I never said they have full access, but they have access to check your searches and things like that

Reply 12

_gcx

Study Forum Helper

Original post by studentbioch3m

All that incognito mode does is prevent stuff like cookies/browser history being saved locally, it doesn't make you any more anonymous

Reply 13

username5383500

Original post by studentbioch3m

I never said they have full access, but they have access to check your searches and things like that

You said "even if they don't check your phone, they have access to do it". Implying that being on WiFi gives the same level of "checking" as physical access. If that's not what you meant, your post was misleading.

Additionally, no the school does not have access to check your searches and "things like that". If you are connected to school WiFi and Google something, that traffic to Google is encrypted. The school is not going to be breaking HTTPS encrypted traffic. They can make some inferences about what you're doing, for example based on DNS requests, but they don't have the capability to see everything just because you are on their WiFi.

This would also be one of the legitimate use cases for a VPN, where you encrypt all the traffic between you and the VPN endpoint, preventing the school from seeing anything.