Certain watchmakers have decided to make bucks from selling watches that help students to cheat in exam. These digital watches include an “emergency button” to quickly switch from hidden text to a clock face. The watches hold data or written information which can be read in exams.
Watches are advertised on Amazon with the claim that they are “specifically designed for cheating on exams”. One model promises 4GB of electronic storage for text files or images, to be read on the screen of the watch.
If the “emergency button” is pressed, the other buttons on the watch are disabled, as the watch switches to a conventional digital clock face. This “watch for easier studying” is also marketed as being compatible with a mini wireless earpiece.
Another advert promises a watch that is “perfect for covertly viewing exam notes directly on your wrist”. Another is offering a new model for this year with 8GB capacity, which could hold video files. Smart watches or digital watches with concealed content would be covered by rules banning electronic devices from exam halls, such as mobile phones or any other computer technology.
The price for these watches start at $61 and extend to the south of $75 for the advanced one, now I don’t want to dive into the details since we are not endorsing one! This entire episode is a murky reminder of how easily we can lay our hands on such stuff online and ultimately it’s the privacy and security of the individuals that is at peril. On the other hand, cheating in exams has been around for quite a while, in the 90’s it was the calculator watches and now it is this.
