Posted on 02/17/2010 5:28:43 PM PST by CJBernard
The complaint, filed by minor high school student Blake Robbins and his parents, alleges that the school district has been spying on the activities of students and students’ families through the “indiscriminant use of and ability to remotely activate the webcams incorporated into each laptop issued to students,” all without the knowledge or consent of any of the students or parents involved.
How the capability was discovered should be enough to put any who value civil liberties and privacy on the edge of their seat. From the complaint (emphasis mine):
"On November 11, 2009, Plaintiffs were for the first time informed of the above-mentioned capability and practice by the School District when Lindy Matsko, an Assistant Principal at Harriton High School, informed minor Plaintiff that the School District was of the belief that minor Plaintiff was engaged in improper behavior in his home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in minor Plaintiff’s personal laptop issued by the School District."
(Excerpt) Read more at americasright.com ...
It’s possible that the kid left the webcam on inadvertently and someone was able to access it, as opposed to outright spying on them by activating the webacm remotely.
However, it still does not justify the computer being used that way, and with the way technology is advancing, should at least be a warning to anyone that this COULD BE a possibility in the not so distant future.
It’s a wake up call at the very least.
It would not be expensive or difficult to have a software routine loaded by the school to do such monitoring.
In fact, if in the simplest form if you just wanted to view the person while they were logged onto the school web site you could write that program in under an hour.
Remotely activating a web camera dump while the student has the computer on but not on the school site is only slightly more complicated. The school knows the MAC address of each laptop and that is a great starting point when doing anything remotely.
That would take hacking skills (Knowledge of IP addresses, the specific software used to run the web cam, his firewall and virus software etc. etc.) that the school is unlikely to have access to. It would also make them guilty of hacking a computer system, also a crime, as well as invasion of privacy.
I forget where I had read this, but a woman that was into photography as a hobby, had her camera bag stolen while she eating in a restaurant. Police report was taken, etc....and she went on her way without her cameras.
A few days later, she started getting photos in her email. The photos showed two young men playing around with a couple of her cameras. Apparently, one of her cameras was setup to automatically upload photos to a server whenever it was in a wifi hotspot. She printed the photos and took them to the police. The busboy at the restaurant was subsequently arrested as being one of the thiefs, as his mugshot was on the photos. She got all of her cameras back too.
This reminded me of the story because of the technology. Many, if not most, laptops sold today have a feature that can somehow be enabled that can track the laptop to a particular location should it be stolen. I don’t know if it sends out an ip address or what but I’m sure someone here knows more than I do about this technology.
I read in the comments section of this school laptop story that the juvenile is just covering his butt for sending out pornographic photos of himself and that’s why the folks are suing. Who knows, but the technology is there to enable a webcam from a remote location, that’s for sure!
They got pictures off his webcam somehow. That means it can be done.
Other than that, what Wurlitzer said.....
I would expect the school to have the records of the things you mentioned necessary to get into the computer. And in that case, it wouldn’t really be hacking.
I didn’t think you were. I was referring to another comment made upthread.
It’s often hard to hear inflection in someone’s voice on an internet message board. So much of human to human communication is dependent on that. That’s why you have to be really clear when you ask questions like on FR that what the intent of the inquiry is. Several of us got the wrong opinion. I’m willing to give EBH the benefit of the doubt though.
ha, true, you might be able to do that but not any random person working at the school. If the school did do this it isn't the assistant principle acting on her own. No, the school would have put out bids and done the job by the book, and yes, it would be expensive. That is how public bureaucrats work.
PS. I am not saying it is impossible or even difficult to do, just unlikely, considering the obvious potential for abuse.
“I’m willing to give EBH the benefit of the doubt though.’
I would be willing as well if EBH says that he/she doesn’t agree the ends justify the means.
One side of the story. If this were the school district's actual policy, then they would would have just confessed to a crime and they would be in much more trouble then just a civil suit.
“And speaking as a parent, although my daughter is less than a year old, it wouldn’t matter to me if the picture was from his friends or his school, if my kid were misbehaving he’d get punished. The behavior and the spying are two seperate matters.”
I agree with that, but since we don't know what the alleged misbehavior was, it is hard to agree conclusively.
Of course it can be done, but it is easier to get a picture off his web cam if he sent it to someone else and that someone forwarded it to the school then for the school to hack it off of his computer, unless the school set up his computer so that it could be done before they gave it to him. If that is the case then the school broke the law and they should be under criminal investigation.
“I would expect the school to have the records of the things you mentioned necessary to get into the computer. And in that case, it wouldn’t really be hacking”
Yes it would. You cannot use personal information to break the law even if you have lawful access to that information.
I remember reading that and was thinking of that when I posted the comment, but couldn’t remember enough of the details to use it as an example.
Color me jaded, too, when people start backpedaling after getting called on their comments.
If I was the father of the homecoming queen at Harriton or Lower Merion I’d be asking a lot of questions right now.
Guess I am just in a giving mood today ;p
No harm in that.
I've never used a webcam, so I don't know how they work. I'm guessing you're right, the webcam would have to have been left on, on the student's laptop. But, when someone uses a webcam, isn't it used like a telephone...? That is, if they can have two-way communication using the webcam, don't they have to choose with whom they're communicating?
Maybe the school set it up so that all communication through the webcams is hooked up through the school system somehow...? And the students didn't know that...? With all the news about "sexting", maybe the school wanted to ensure the webcams weren't being used for "other reasons."
Even so, the story is still creepy. Why issue laptops with webcams in the first place if you think the students might use them inappropriately? And then check what they're doing without telling the families? Weird.
I believe it’s also a felony under PA state law.
>What if they had caught child abuse?
>What if they had caught drug use/dealing?
>What if they had caught bullying or even a murder?
Irrelevant.There’s far too much play in those ‘what if’ scenarios... to better reply, how many precieved/possible illegal acts would turn out to be “false positives”?
>What if they had caught a kid planning a Columbine event?
What if they’d mistaken the kid cleaning the guns in anticipation of hunting with dad as the “next Columbine kid”?
Lots of webcams can be accessed from elsewhere. They can be found all over the internet. I’ve used the webcam to see what’s going on at the state fair from the various ones they have set up. They provide a link for you to use.
Other organizations do as well, like newspapers.
Like I said, the story should be a wake up call for us all.
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