School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

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b1gapl

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Source: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don't know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I'm getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students' clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.

Oh boy....
 
WOW...that's just....I don't know what to say..I hate public school systems anymore. Teachers and principals get a little ounce of power within the doors of the school and they think they are the leaders of everyone in the city :|

I would have my kids home schooled but that just shelters them from the real world..but if something like this happened I'd be the first one to pick up the pitch fork :|
 
This breaks at least 3 US laws that I know of, this is going to be fun to watch from a distance at least.
 
School Uses Students' PCs To Spy on Them at Home

School Uses Students' PCs To Spy on Them at Home

Let me get this straight, there is a school out there that spies on kids at home using the built in webcam on laptops issued to the students? You have got to be kidding me. Who thought that was a good idea? Blame long time [H] reader qdemn7 for the link.


According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.
 
Sigh, What's really sad is that those students didnt know that they were being spied on. Should have checked. What's that old saying, it goes like "beware of enemys bearing gifts" or something like that.
 
Holy ****... I can imagine the waves of ****ed off parents pounding on the admin office doors after this surfaced.

I hope somebody punched that super intendant in the face for this one.
 
This is why I hate some public schools either run by the school board or goevernment!
You know what, if I was one of those kids or parents and found out about it and knew a great deal about pc"s...
I wouldn't even let those SOB's know they are watching me, set them up on a big trap, they fall for it with either my lawyer watching them or the local or federal po po.
Gather up any data that is stored on the laptop such as logs or unprotected files, take them to court.
Sue them fast, sue them well, take the ****ing laptop home reformat everything and destroy any installed hardware to prevent another sneak or peep show.
Fix the laptop and put the **** thing on ebay.com for somebody needing a pc who really needs it for good purposes.

This is what makes me angry about people who are evil enough to do this.
 
It's one thing to have a BIOS that ping a server to make sure that the computer is not stolen. It's another thing to have a web cam that allows teachers to spy on kids.
 
It's one thing to have a BIOS that ping a server to make sure that the computer is not stolen. It's another thing to have a web cam that allows teachers to spy on kids.

Real simple, you screw up the webcam, next morning your so called trustfull principal calls you in ask why did the webcam go off ?

You: why the **** are you spying on me and what right or law gives you that reason to do so without special permisson.
How about I call the cops, governor or somebody higher than them to come deal with this new found problem and watch you loose your job and retirement plan within the 3 weeks.
 
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