Hello everyone,

I have been dreaming of this day for over five years. Proctorio’s lawsuit against me is forever over. What began on September 2, 2020, when Proctorio obtained an ex parte (without notice) injunction against me, ended on November 12, 2025, when Proctorio submitted a Consent Dismissal Order (CDO) to dismiss the entire lawsuit and keep an injunction in place. No money changed hands.

I’ve won my life back!

The settlement terms are confidential, but here is what I can share. And if you’re looking to catch up, check out https://linkletter.org with all the statements and judgments from the past five years.

Yesterday, Proctorio filed a CDO in BC Supreme Court. A CDO is not a finding of fact or an admission of liability, but a mutual agreement to dismiss the lawsuit. The CDO dismisses all claims against me, but leaves the general framework of the 2022 injunction in place, which includes the Court’s clarification that I am free to access, download, disseminate, copy, record, post, transfer, share, or comment on material obtained from any public source. What I cannot do is access the Proctorio Help Center or Academy, or share materials from those sources, unless they come from a public source.

This is completely fine with me. It doesn’t meaningfully restrict my freedom of expression in any way. I haven’t had access to these sources for years, and I don’t need them. Proctorio’s “Abnormal Eye Movement” video is unnecessary to establish the ableist harms of their eye tracking algorithms. The names of the other six videos – Abnormalities, Behaviour Flags, Display Room Scan, Abnormal Head Movement, Record Room, and Behaviour Setting – speak for themselves. 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.

There are no other restrictions on my freedom of expression. I am free to continue criticizing Proctorio’s harmful product, the CEO who chose to sue me rather than respond to criticism, and the now-settled SLAPP lawsuit. I fought for this right, and have given many talks over the years to assert it. One I am especially proud of is “Centering Student Voices in Resisting Surveillance”, about the harms of Proctorio and the thousands of brave students who dared to resist, at the Civics of Technology conference in August.

In 2023, Proctorio demanded that I produce as part of my document discovery “any and all documents and communications with any third parties regarding Proctorio”. In effect, Proctorio wanted to see any time I ever communicated to anyone about Proctorio, regardless of whether it was relevant to the lawsuit. I was prepared to go to court to argue that these communications were not relevant. However, despite the litigation lasting over 5 years, it never progressed to the point where documents were exchanged, so it never came to that. I promised to protect your privacy, and I kept that promise.

Proctorio will frame this outcome as securing a “restraining order” to protect their “confidential” information. The facts tell a different story. If Proctorio believed their videos were confidential, why did they upload them to YouTube instead of a secure location? Many institutions, including UBC where I worked at the time, publicly linked to these videos. It was my criticism, not the links, that got me sued.

Proctorio’s claim that they honestly thought YouTube was an appropriate place to share “confidential” information raises serious concerns about their ability to safeguard personal information. Even a child understands how YouTube works, so how are we supposed to trust a surveillance company that doesn’t? I don’t think they are qualified for anyone’s business.

Proctorio may also try to convince you that it was me who prolonged the lawsuit by filing an anti-SLAPP application. This isn’t true either. I never had the option to settle this or walk away, so I continued forward, defending myself to the strongest of my abilities. It cost my life savings ten times over, and I am eternally grateful to the thousands of you from GoFundMe and the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff of UBC for funding my defence after I no longer could.

In 2024, Norton Rose Fulbright agreed to represent me on a pro bono basis. Norton Rose Fulbright is one of the largest law firms in the world, and I am grateful for all the resources they devoted to the case. This was a huge relief to me, as it meant I could defend myself all the way if Proctorio chose to proceed with the litigation. I’m not surprised they decided to settle rather than burn a million dollars at no cost to me. My thanks go to Dylan Braam, Chris Wilson, Madeleine Hodgson, and Christopher Guerreiro for their outstanding negotiation skills, and Grace Pastine for believing in me. Thank you too to Arvay Finlay for all their support over the years. I couldn’t have done this without them.

It has been 1,899 days, each one of them felt. My patience, determination, and resilience were tested, but I persisted, and an immeasurable weight has now been lifted.

Sincerely,

Ian Linkletter