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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 ...
The software is available everywhere. It's a question of how good the security is on both ends. Since the school district controls both ends, easy to do.
Ten years ago where I worked, a senior network administrator showed me how he set up spy software to monitor employees computer screens. Anything the employee saw on their screen, he could see at his remote spy screen. He had to sneak an agent onto the employees computer while they were away. The rest was easy. Management suspected some employees of doing illegal activities on their computers, so they gave a go to this network administrator. He also coupled the spying to cameras mounted in ceilings, supposedly installed to prevent non-employees from entering (but we employees knew the real intent).
I told the admin I was disgusted and wanted no part of this (I was also a senior network admin). Trust no one, and be careful of how you set up your computer.
Yes - big brother gives everybody their own computer, how nice.
Get in bed with a snake and you get bit.
I’m pretty certain that computer support companies which have the ability to take over your computer via remote access also have access to any webcam, but intentionally looking into someone’s home to monitor behavior is a whole new ballgame.
To me, the money quote in this article was the part about how the school administrator used a photograph of whatever activity was going on as evidence to presumably discipline the kid for something he was doing at home.
It’s insane.
Un-freakin-believable.
I would hope that an immediate 'Cease & Desist' order has been requested; likewise they are looking at the complicity of their ISP/Network Provider in any on-going involvement of this spying. Unreal!
Ping to Trib & Kid.
I’ve been wondering the same about all of the computers and the company laptop in our home. Now I have a real reason to be paranoid. ;-)
I told my 14yo son (who’s homeschooled) about this story tonight... while he was sitting at the laptop. The look of shock on his face... Then he started wondering aloud: “Why would a school want to spy on a student at home?” He went on to (half-jokingly) surmise there might be a brainwashing program the school is using at the other end to turn the students into zombies who will work for them. (As if the school isn’t already doing that.) Or, he surmised, maybe the school is putting everything into place so they’ll be ready to turn the students into zombies as soon as the brainwashing technology is available.
Far-fetched, isn’t it?
Or is it? ;-)
The government does whatever it wants with its children. You tacitly agree to this when you knowingly commit your offspring to these hideous indoctrination centers.
Get over it...you are to blame...
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?
What if they had caught a kid planning a Columbine event?
Where did they get the idea that government has the right to watch you with cameras? How many in here support such tyranny as Red Light Cameras? Yes it's the same principle and it needs to sink deeply into some peoples thick skulls just what precedents are. Your car like your home is YOUR Private Property. The same logic that says yes but you are on a public road which allows such I say this. By that logic if you allowed a computer given by the public school system in your home and hooked to the internet well then your home is no longer a private place either. Government is using a camera or TOOL as they love so much to call them on the information hiway. Where does it stop?
Is this for real?
I was just thinking this. My daughter’s school — small, Catholic, all-girls — issued Netbooks to all the seventh-grade girls back in September.
I hope you are joking.
I thought it was illegal to record stuff in a person's home without prior notification or a warrant. Thereby the school is wrong on at least one level.
But, what if this had prevented or at least provided documentation of a crime. Would one feel the same way regarding the web facilitated intrusion?
Instead of it catching this boy, what if it had tracked the rape of child?
Not. Their. Job.
They could stop all those things by forcing all the students to live in dorms with 24-hour monitoring, or sending teachers home with the students, but that wouldn’t be right either.
Honestly, the district seems to think that because they are in loco parentis during school hours, that gives them the right to run the students’ lives later.
We have liberties in this country. The end doesn’t justify the means EVER.
Unbelievable.
ping
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