A live streaming mobile app that monitors students in classrooms has roused an online debate over students' privacy as the live broadcasts can be viewed by all of those who have downloaded the app.

On Shuidi, hundreds of channels from schools across China can be viewed at all hours of the day, which has been largely seen as a security and privacy threat since the lives of children are transmitted to the general public.

Shuidi live streams what is happening in classrooms. /CGTN Screenshot

"Such live streams can only be appropriate when there's a public necessity. Otherwise monitoring children is illegal, and to live stream the videos is definitely worse,” said Yao Huanqing from Commercial Law Research Center of Renmin University of China.

Facing a barrage of criticism over live streaming, Shuidi responded with their own method to protect children's privacy. Engineers of the app have developed a "kindergarten mode" that will only allow access to live broadcasts to the parents who have obtained a QR code from the teachers.

Camera in the classroom. /CGTN Screenshot

However, privacy violations do not seem to be the only concern. Although there are teachers who admit that misbehavior in the classroom has decreased significantly after a camera is installed, many experts argue that keeping students under surveillance may result in mental health problems.

Privacy concerns and violations can be curbed and solved. Yet perhaps, the greater question should be whether we ought to put every second of a child's life under a camera.