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Laptop family is no stranger to legal disputes (Webcamgate Lower Merion)
Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 02/25/2010 | Larry King and Bonnie L. Cook

Posted on 02/25/2010 5:18:17 AM PST by Kid Shelleen

The vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission could scarcely contain his scorn.

Before the commission was yet another appeal from a Philadelphia-area family, again seeking a break on unpaid electric and gas bills that by last year were closing in on $30,000.

This family lived in a $986,000 house on the Main Line. The breadwinner, until recently, had earned well more than $100,000 per year. Yet he and his wife were in hock to creditors, ranging from Uncle Sam to their former synagogue - and had regularly been stiffing Peco Energy for five years, breaking payment plan after payment plan

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: arth; laptop; lowermerion; webcam
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To: paulycy
$100 gps or a $35 software suite.

I suppose next you people are going to go on a rant against web-enabled Nanny Cams.

Very similar application in principle.

61 posted on 02/25/2010 6:16:07 AM PST by Dead Corpse (III, Oathkeeper)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

i think that it’s sad that people buy homes they
cannot afford.


62 posted on 02/25/2010 6:17:32 AM PST by gussiefinknottle (woof!woof!woof!)
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To: Tunehead54

Head Office.


63 posted on 02/25/2010 6:18:01 AM PST by conservativemusician
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To: 668 - Neighbor of the Beast

You are very fortunate in your G&E provider. In Maryland the story is Very different!


64 posted on 02/25/2010 6:18:01 AM PST by maica (Freedom consists not in doing what we like,but in having the right to do what we ought. John Paul II)
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To: paulycy
Were the students forced to use these SCHOOL laptops in private areas of their home? Were they to be allowed to use them for whatever they wanted? Or just for specific school related homework?

The only charges I see here the need to be filed are "theft/misuse of school equipment" and maybe "filing a false lawsuit".

65 posted on 02/25/2010 6:18:39 AM PST by Dead Corpse (III, Oathkeeper)
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To: Dead Corpse

I have to admit that I’m one of those not well versed in that, although I do realize that there is a need to have such control. Like anything, I guess, the technology can be used in a bad way....


66 posted on 02/25/2010 6:19:02 AM PST by Born Conservative ("I'm a fan of disruptors" - Nancy Pelosi)
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To: muawiyah
without furniture of course, and you must wear your winter coats indoors!

LOL! I never saw much point in being in a mansion if you had to live on beans and rice.

To each his own, I guess.

67 posted on 02/25/2010 6:19:28 AM PST by MamaTexan (I am not a administrative, corporate, collective, legal, political or public entity or ~person~)
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To: Dead Corpse
That level of control is necessary.

I'm not arguing with you. You are the expert.

But I don't see where a school district has any business or even a legal right without a warrant to monitor a video feed of a student's house, car, life, backpack, etc. wherever that pc is.

Please explain?

68 posted on 02/25/2010 6:19:46 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: Dead Corpse

$100 GPS or a $600+ laptop. If you REALLY want to get into expenses, why was the school sending these expensive pieces of equipment home anyway. In fact, why have they invested in them to begin with.

There is NO excuse for a government agency to have the ability to take a picture of ANYONE in the privacy of their home. Period.


69 posted on 02/25/2010 6:23:17 AM PST by ican'tbelieveit (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team# 36120), KW:Folding)
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To: Born Conservative
Agreed. It could be. There are ways to hack into almost any system. The more "connected" a system is, the more avenues for attack.

Webcams, website hosting, chat services, RDP clients, etc...

There is still something "not right" in this story though. There is info still missing. Yeah, the sys admin seems like a bit of a control Nazi. Possibly for some of the exact reasons I just mentioned. Dunno. I haven't met any of the folks in question. I do know some of the things we've had to do to work with local police to recover stolen assets. Having a picture of the perp from the laptops iSight would go a long way to recovering said assets.

70 posted on 02/25/2010 6:23:27 AM PST by Dead Corpse (III, Oathkeeper)
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To: gussiefinknottle
That all depends on the Porsche

I've always wanted a 928 myself, but I can't justify the $3000 for the yearly tune-up.

71 posted on 02/25/2010 6:23:54 AM PST by Little Pig (Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.)
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To: ican'tbelieveit
MacBooks run $999. $899 for previous Gen MacBooks until the run out of inventory. This does not include licensing for additional software like iLife or iWork.

In our District, students are NOT allowed to take our laptops home. Theft and misuse are the top two arguments for me to use whenever the school board bring this up.

72 posted on 02/25/2010 6:26:02 AM PST by Dead Corpse (III, Oathkeeper)
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To: Dead Corpse
Very similar application in principle.

Similar technology but completely different legal situation. I am not a lawyer so I can only give my layman's opinion:

You have a perfect right, as a private individual, to have video going in your own house. If others come into your house they may be captured on video. You will need a lawyer to say whether you have to warn the nanny or not.

A public, government entitiy like a school has a right to the information about where that property is but they do not have a right to invade the privacy of any individual *off* of school property by videotaping (or audiotaping, or recording in any way) the person's private life, surroundings, activities, body, conversations, or anything else.

Cost has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with it. The Constitution is not sold out to the cheapest technological solution.

73 posted on 02/25/2010 6:26:58 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: maica

Read the link from post #50 - it seems to answer your question.


74 posted on 02/25/2010 6:27:19 AM PST by AD from SpringBay (We deserve the government we allow.)
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To: paulycy; NativeNewYorker

I’d bet a city acre that nobody will even come close to facing criminal charges in this case.


75 posted on 02/25/2010 6:27:51 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (STOP the Tyrananny State.)
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To: conservativemusician

Thanks! ;-)

Head Office:

“In this comic take on big-business wheelings and dealings, an ambitious senator’s son (Judge Reinhold) moves up the corporate ladder through undeserved promotions. But against his better judgment, he falls for a woman (the chairman’s daughter, no less) who’s leading a protest against the company’s shady business practices. “Saturday Night Live” writer-performer Michael O’Donoghue scripted this satire co-starring Danny DeVito and Jane Seymour.”


76 posted on 02/25/2010 6:28:00 AM PST by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: Dead Corpse

If the kiddos need to have access to the computers for school work outside of school hours, open up the school. Cheaper to have a monitor in a lab than this whole mess.


77 posted on 02/25/2010 6:28:19 AM PST by ican'tbelieveit (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team# 36120), KW:Folding)
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To: Tunehead54

Rent it. Eddie Albert is priceless.


78 posted on 02/25/2010 6:29:22 AM PST by conservativemusician
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To: gussiefinknottle

“...its one thing to be able to purchase something, but to
maintain a million dollar home...”

Hubby and I went to a yard sale in a tony section of central Jersey, all the houses were what you might call McMansions. They were beautiful, really. Huge, big lots, lovely landscaping, etc.

I asked him what the houses cost and he said probably a couple of million. Not bad, really. But then to think about keeping up the lawns, etc. Even cleaning the places. You could never do it yourself, it would be a full time job.

Now, the folks living there were “poor” enough so they were having garage sales. I imagine they must spend almost all their money on keeping up their houses.

And clearly these philly folks could not afford their home, hence their many unpaid bills.


79 posted on 02/25/2010 6:31:06 AM PST by jocon307 (It's the spending, stupid.)
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To: MamaTexan

You’d be surprised how beans and rice can give you the strength needed to fend off grifters, parasites, con men and psychopathic would-be tenants who are all very attracted to mansions. :)


80 posted on 02/25/2010 6:31:11 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (STOP the Tyrananny State.)
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