The real question is: where is the criminal investigation?<p>This breaks so many laws it's not funny.<p>And the kid originally being disciplined <i>at school</i> for something he did <i>at home</i>.<p>It's the first time for a while news like this has made me feel physically sick! Lock them up :(
This was part of a program on PBS called Digital Nation. The show was very interesting, and there's a section where the school IT administrator demonstrates his ability to pull up a students laptop ... and working webcam.<p><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/learning/schools/how-google-saved-a-school.html?play" rel="nofollow">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/learni...</a><p>The relevant part starts at about 4:35. "They don't even realize that we are watching. I always like to mess with them and take a picture."
Found a PDF of the filing itself:<p><a href="http://craphound.com/robbins17.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://craphound.com/robbins17.pdf</a><p>It's hard for me to imagine how anyone could think this was an OK idea.
It would be particularly sick if the legal case for this came down to deciding whether any adults had their privacy violated. In general, US courts have not been to fond of protecting the rights of children (which makes the children arrested for child porn of themselves trend still more poignant), and so I can easily see the case coming down to deciding if adults were harmed, effectively setting a precedent that it's OK to spy on kids.
This really lowers ones faith in mankind. What on earth possessed these people? There must have been at least three people with knowledge of this and probably more. <i>None</i> of them thought it was enough of a problem to speak out against it and make a racket if necessary? I can understand one person having a crazy thought and I can imagine him convincing a second. But as soon as a third found out, the whole affair should have been seen for what it was: an invasion of privacy.
Don't just sit there fuming - do something.<p>You can contact the school board's directors at capitalcomments@lmsd.org or call (610) 645-1800<p>If you believe that a criminal act may have been committed, you can contact the Montgomery County District Attorney at KKasopsk@montcopa.org or call (610) 278-3090
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
"This is the first we have heard of this lawsuit being filed and the plaintiff's allegations," he said today. "However, we can categorically state that we are - and have always been - committed to protecting the privacy of our students."<p>"Our district was one of the first to provide free laptops to all of our high school students," Young said. "This initiative has been incredibly successful and well received in our school community."<p>"We have referred this matter to our attorneys for appropriate legal action and plan to communicate with parents and students with more information as it becomes available."<p><a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100218_Suit__School-issued_laptops_used_to_spy_on_kids_on_Main_Line.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100218_Suit__Sc...</a>
I knew some folks who worked at a neighboring school district and while laptops never went home with the children, Remote Desktop screen caps of the sleazy superintendent engaged in affairs with teachers and potential new hires were taken. From the stories I hear, the administration in most PA public school systems is disgustingly corrupt.
I wonder if these laptops had a recording light by the camera like most. Wouldn't this have been an immediate tip-off to everyone? Disabling the recording light (if this happened) would have required some effort as well...
Speaking of school's control and observation of kids not on their premises, wasn't there a case a while back where a kid skipped school and later appeared on TV holding a "Bush sucks!" protest sign? My memory is fuzzy on this, but it seems like the courts upheld the right of the school to punish the kid? Anybody got a link for that case?<p>Extrapolating from what I don't know into things I can't even speculate on (I love the internet), what if these administrators saw the same kids engaging in obscene political action, like defiling election signs or something? Or witnessed a murder? If I remember correctly, even police who are authorized to eavesdrop are bound by all kinds of rules about what they can observe and what they're forced to take action on.
Technology enabled spying seems to be completely ubiquitous now. Maybe new laws can be passed, but given recent history I'm not optimistic about that. Probably the best strategy is to try to encourage more equiveillance.<p>As an immediate workaround if you are the parent of one of the children with these laptops:<p>i) Complain to the school. Make sure your complaint is formally registered (not just verbal on the phone).<p>ii) Install an operating system onto the laptop yourself, to ensure that there is nothing untoward installed in the background. Preferably use some linux distro, or if you are an ardent Windows fan take a backup image after a new installation which can easily be restored later to overwrite any nasties which may have been installed later.
This takes things one giant leap further, but my cousin in high school already has his personal email and home web browsing read by a team of school monitors, thanks to the provision of a laptop by his public high school.<p>Of course, his parents are unlikely to buy him his own laptop since he's already got one, so what does he need another one for?
All this proves is that the several countries (USA, UK, others) have legal systems that are inconsistent, at least in the formal systems sense. Starting with "laws" as axioms, and some set of rules of deduction, you can get anywhere: Person X is a pedophile, Student Z behaves improperly on Mars, etc etc.
I see a lot of child pornography arguments being made, but what if this was a work laptop that you brought home and your boss spied on you?<p>Would that be okay?
If this violated child pornography laws, we will get the remarkable outcome that a school system is not allowed within 2500 feet of a school. So it's not all bad!