School uses laptops to spy on students at home

M

Mrs.Lucysnow

Valued Senior Member
– A suburban Philadelphia school district snapped secret webcam pictures of a high school student when he was partially undressed or sleeping in his bed, and captured instant messages he exchanged with friends, the student charged in court papers this week.

The Lower Merion School District concedes its efforts to find missing school-issued laptops was misguided, and officials vowed anew Friday to release the findings of their internal investigation, "good and bad."

The LANrev software program took screen shots and webcam photos every 15 seconds when activated. The district thereby captured over 400 screen shots and webcam images of Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins, according to court filings this week in his lawsuit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_hi_te/us_laptops_spying_on_students

The school claims it was using the feature to track the laptops if they went missing and turned on the feature when some parents had failed to pay the insurance for he laptop. But the lawyer representing the parents said:

"Thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes, many of which never reported their laptops lost or missing,"

The families were never formally notified that this was a possibility nor where they notified when the tracking began.

So are we okay with this?

Just when we thought it was only the government we had to fear with intrusive surveillance it seems you're not even safe from your school principal. :p
 
One day we might have to let go of the notion of a right to privacy. When technology proceeds far enough that our memory and senses are suficiently enhanced, privacy might not be a realistic option.

If a lack of privacy were universal, would that be a bad thing?
 
there is a difference between general privacy, and a company taking photographs of teenage kids in their homes at all hours. from the article, i take this as a function controlled from their center remotely, and as stated, at different times day and night. sounds just like the kind scenario that leaves you with a small hand full of bored night crew techs flipping through web shots of random students until they make a list of the hot chicks to keep an eye on.
 
Which they will do.
In Darwin (Australia) there was a recent case in which the security cameras operated by police were used to keep tabs on those very same hot chicks.

That aside, though... I'm afraid.
 
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