Proctorio Sued a Critic for Five Years. Here's How It Ended.
If you take tests on Edgenuity's EdgeEx platform, you've probably met Proctorio: the browser extension that watches your screen, webcam and tabs during an exam. Fewer students know that Proctorio spent five years in court against one of its most prominent critics, a university staff member who shared some of the company's own help videos to show how the software works. The case ended in November 2025.
Disclosure: EdgyPro makes software for students who use Edgenuity, including the EdgyOne app for proctored tests. Facts in this article come from the reporting listed under Sources.
Key findings
- In 2020 Proctorio sued Ian Linkletter, then a learning technology specialist at the University of British Columbia, for sharing unlisted Proctorio YouTube videos on Twitter.
- Linkletter said he shared them to criticize surveillance-based testing; Proctorio called them "confidential and proprietary."
- UBC's senate restricted the university's use of Proctorio in March 2021 over ethical concerns.
- Proctorio filed a consent dismissal order on November 12, 2025, ending the suit while keeping an injunction in place. Linkletter: "I've won my life back!"
How It Started
According to The Ubyssey, UBC's student newspaper, Linkletter shared a number of Proctorio's unlisted YouTube videos on Twitter in 2020 while working in UBC's Faculty of Education. He was a vocal critic of the university's use of Proctorio to invigilate online exams during the pandemic. Proctorio sued him for copyright infringement.
Linkletter responded with an anti-SLAPP application, a type of motion meant to stop lawsuits that shut down debate on matters of public interest. The BC Supreme Court ruled against his application in 2022, the BC Court of Appeal upheld that decision, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case, which let Proctorio's suit continue.
How It Ended
On November 12, 2025, Proctorio filed a consent dismissal order ending the lawsuit, leaving in place a 2022 injunction that bars Linkletter from accessing or sharing material from the Proctorio help centre or academy unless it comes from a public source. He said that restriction doesn't meaningfully limit him:
"It doesn't take much imagination to understand why Proctorio is a nightmare for students. I can say everything that matters about Proctorio using public information."
Ian Linkletter (The Ubyssey)
"It has been 1,899 days, each one of them felt," Linkletter wrote on his blog. He told The Ubyssey that he stood up to the company to "defend students," and that "Proctorio sues its critics" rather than responding to criticism. He says he'll keep pushing for algorithmic impact assessments at public universities in British Columbia. Proctorio did not respond to The Ubyssey's request for comment.
What Proctorio Means for Edgenuity Students
On EdgeEx, proctored tests and exams require the Proctorio extension before they'll start. While it runs, ordinary browser extensions, including userscript managers like Tampermonkey, are visible to it. That's why most tools for Edgenuity stop working on proctored tests, and why students searching for a "Proctorio bypass" mostly find myths.
How EdgyPro Handles Proctored Tests
EdgyOne launches Edgenuity in its own browser window with EdgyPro built in, instead of as an extension Proctorio can list. Your EdgyPro features, including Auto Answers with a Grade Range and Submit Delay, keep working on the test. It's free to download for anyone with an EdgyPro key. Proctorio-bypass isn't available on Chromebooks or phones; everything else in EdgyPro is.
New to EdgyPro? Start with Is EdgyPro safe? or grab a key.
Sources
- Stephen Kosar, "Proctorio lawsuit against former UBC staff member ends after five year saga," The Ubyssey, November 19, 2025, ubyssey.ca.
- Ian Linkletter, "Update #33: The lawsuit is over!," linkletter.org.