US High School Spies on Kids via Laptops

[JesusA (imported)]

The FBI has opened an investigation into this one and the Washington Post (at least) has raised the issue of child pornography. This may be fun to watch as it plays out.....

[Paolo]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/lap ... google_cnn

(CNN) -- Pennsylvania parents are suing their son's school, alleging it watched him through his laptop's webcam while he was at home and unaware he was being observed.

Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley are suing the Lower Merion School District, its board of directors and the superintendent. The parents allege the district unlawfully used its ability to access a webcam remotely on their son's district-issued laptop computer.

The lawsuit seeking class-action status was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The suit said that on November 11, an assistant principal at Harriton High School told the plaintiffs' son that he was caught engaging in "improper behavior" in his home and it was captured in an image via the webcam.

According to the Robbinses' complaint, neither they nor their son, Blake, were informed of the school's ability to access the webcam remotely at any time. It is unclear what the boy was doing in his room when the webcam was activated or if any punishment was given out.

Doug Young, a spokesman for the Lower Merion School District, said the district would only remotely access a laptop if it were reported to be lost, stolen or missing.

Young said if there were such a report, the district first would have to request access from its technology and security department and receive authorization. Then it would use the built-in security feature to take over the laptop and see whatever was in the webcam's field of vision, potentially allowing it to track down the missing computer.

Young said parents and students were not explicitly told about this built-in security feature.

To receive the laptop, the family had to sign an "acceptable-use" agreement. To take the laptop home, the family also would have to buy insurance for the computer.

In an "acceptable-use" agreement, the families are made aware of the school's ability to "monitor" the hardware, he said, but it stops short of explicitly explaining the security feature. He termed that a mistake.

Young added that mistakes might be made when combining technology (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Computer_Technology) and education (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Education) in a cutting-edge way.

All 2,300 students at the district's two high schools were offered laptops to "enhance opportunities for ongoing collaboration and ensure that all students have 24/7 access to school-based resources," according to a message on the superintendent's Web site, which the suit quoted.

Young said the district is proud of the laptop program and the ability to close the technology gap between students who have computers at home and those who don't. But he acknowledged schools will have to take a step back to re-evaluate the policies and procedures surrounding the program.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Pennsylvania) isn't involved in the litigation, but its director, Vic Walczak, criticized the school district's action.

"Neither police nor school officials can enter a private home, physically or electronically, without an invitation or a warrant. The school district's clandestine electronic eavesdropping violates constitutional privacy rights, intrudes on parents' right to raise their children and may even be criminal under state and federal wiretapping laws," Walczak said "... George Orwell's '1984' is an overused metaphor, but it applies here in spades. Part of the school officials' punishment should be to retake ninth-grade civics class."

Kevin Bankston, a senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation who specializes in electronic privacy, also said the school may have broken federal wire-tapping laws. He called the school district's action "foolish and dangerous," saying the matter could prove to be a warning to other districts.

Multiple requests for further comment from the Robbinses' attorney, Mark Haltzman of Lamm Rubenstone LLC, went unanswered.

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

The FBI has opened an investigation into this one and the Washington Post (at least) has raised the issue of child pornography. This may be fun to watch as it plays out.....

Indeed.

I shouldn't be suprised, but I'm astounded at the idiocy of this school board.

And they try to say they 'never used the system for anything except lost, stolen, or missing laptops'? What about the first paragraphs of the story, where a student got berated by teachers for what they saw on his webcam?

Unbe-fucking-lievable.

It's the MASS-idiocy that bugs me. A whole slew of staff had to agree to this, install it, and engage it, with not one of them speaking up how stupid an idea it was.

I have a laptop from work. From day one, I stuck a piece of tape and some paper over the lense of the webcam. I got called on it, and told the IT guy that he can remove the tape all he wants, I'm replacing it before I turn the machine on. Unless he wants to get up-close and personal with my hairy ass. I also showed him that I knew where the little keylogger/screengrabber program was residing, deleted it while he watched, and told the boss they can fire me, or leave it off. They shut up.

For God's sake, people... stand up for yourselves.

I will not be spied upon.

[IbPervert (imported)]

My aunt bought one to use with Skype, and I told her to either unplug the device or cover it when not in use.

[lisarenee (imported)]

Stuff like this is exactly why I put black electrical tape over the cam on my laptop, as well as disabling the built-in microphone. A lot of external webcams now feature a sliding lens cover for the same reasons.

[A-1 (imported)]

It is encouraging that so many of the posters here realize the First Amendment implications of this type of activity.

It is instructive to realize that THIS TYPE (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolu ... trial.html) of culture is prone to be judgmental and self-righteous.

IT is also in these types of administrative structures that serious crimes against humanity occur. As an extension of "BIG BROTHER" these individuals subscribe to the legal principle "In Loco Parentis" which is Latin for "in place of parents" to justify their actions. They have NO respect for either the parent or the students whom they serve. They are interested in one thing and one thing only and that is CONTROL.

They think that not only are they above the student but also above the parent as an authority on how to raise children, what the beliefs of humanity should entail, ethics as they apply to school and so forth and so on. They are under the philosophy that schools should shape culture and define it rather than serve it.

It is hard to describe the culture in this type of school climate that can only be classified as toxic.

One thing is sure. They ARE guilty of voyeurism at the least and child pornography at the worst. It is according to how and where the images were distributed after they were obtained.

There is so much actual child pornography on the Internet that it is disgusting, but that a public school corporation supported by tax dollars should be so crass as to believe that they have a not only a right but a responsibility to engage in this sort of activity is criminal.

Whoever is responsible for this fiasco deserves to do time for it.

These are not the actions of a Liberal OR a Conservative. These are the actions of Fascists and are headed down the same de-humanizing road that the Nazis took to the Final Solution.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

What I find disheartening is that so much of this sort of repulsive activity is supported by courts and, therefore, creates precedent. --FLO--

[IbPervert (imported)]

There is so much actual child pornography on the Internet that it is disgusting, but that a public school corporation supported by tax dollars should be so crass as to believe that they have a not only a right but a responsibility to engage in this sort of activity is criminal.

Whoever is responsible for this fiasco deserves to do time for it.

Perhaps that school system should be brought up on child pornography charges. With as many laptops as they passed out at least a few of the laptops were sending out pictures when the kids were changing clothes or perhaps naked.

[IbPervert (imported)]

Regarding OnStar and similar services...anytime you sign up for a reward system (be it Barns and Nobles $25 discount card or Vons/Raph's free cards) they are collecting your data. This even goes for using Google your charge cards, and checks (anything other then paper money). Every time you go to a search engine they track you especially if you install the Google Browser Bar or the Yahoo Browser Bar etc...they collect data on you.

One time a website asked for my name, address and phone number they had a free something I wanted, so i made up an mailing address but gave them my real phone number. Several months went by and I got a call one day asking if I wanted to refinance my house? At the time I lived with my parents and had a private number, so i said I was a renter, so they asked is this Joe Doe at the fake address...and I knew instantly that site (whoever it was) sold the info.

[Losethem (imported)]

...anytime you sign up for a reward system (be it Barns and Nobles $25 discount card or Vons/Raph's free cards) they are collecting your data.

And now we know why I always put a fake name and phone number on those store "rewards" cards. They can mail to the fake address and call the fake phone number all they want. All I want is to get the same price on whatever I'm buying as the people stupid enough to give them their real information.

Oh and for my friends who were born in California between 1905 and 1995, the state kindly put 2 of the 3 major pieces of ID information commonly asked for by banks and others who can screw up your credit ONLINE for anyone to download. So just remember anyone can find your date of birth and mothers maiden name online if you were born in California. The only piece you can protect (and I protect it fiercely) is your Social Security Number.