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Posted on 03/12/2010 8:28:19 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
Source: THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Two tech workers sidelined in Web-cam case
Two information-technology employees of the Lower Merion School District have been placed on leave while an investigation continues into the use of remote surveillance software on student laptops.
The two people authorized to activate the software - Michael Perbix, a network technician, and Carol Cafiero, information systems coordinator - were put on paid leave last week while lawyers and technicians examine how the remote system was used, The Inquirer learned yesterday.
Lawyers for Cafiero and Perbix said their clients did nothing wrong. Perbix and Cafiero turned on the remote software only when a laptop was reported missing, they said - and administrators knew what they were doing.
"A phone call had to come from the high school to turn it on," said Charles Mandracchia, attorney for Cafiero. "And if it was turned on, it was turned on with the understanding that the computer was either lost or stolen."
(SNIP)
Their lawyers said the use of the software was no secret. On at least two occasions, the district turned over pictures and other information to Lower Merion police so they could help track stolen laptops.
The district even set up a secure Web site so the police could have access to pictures and other information, according to attorneys in the case.
More at link...
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
PAID leave-wow,punish me with paid leave,I could use a rest.
It looks like the IT department is being thrown under the bus, as many predicted would happen.
Also, Stryde Hax has more information about other schools using spycams:
More on this case ping.
ARGH!!! PAID administrative leave?!?!?!
I HATE THAT!
IBTPSDs
In Before the Public School Defenders.
Ping to post 3
Even officers of the state are entitled to the presumption of innocence. When the scheme is found to be illegal by a court, then they can lose their jobs, be fined or sent to prison for violations of the students’ civil rights. In the meantime, paid administrative leave for the duration of the investigation seems like a reasonable course of action, doing more to them without due process of law would give them cause to sue the school district.
I wonder if the Stryde Hax article should be posted on its own thread...?
Looks like the school leaders are doing the same as mac daddy, when something goes wrong blame someone else and throw them under the bus.
This is beginning to smell as bad as Washington.
So were the students laptops stolen that brought up the privacy issue here? If not then they have a case of spying since the web cam was not used to find or reclaim a missing laptop.
The way I understand it, every student is issued a laptop to be used for the year. They are required to take the laptops, and they must carry their laptops with them from class to class. Each student is required to pay an insurance fee for his or her laptop. The insurance fee is waived for students who qualify for free/reduced lunch. But, other students who don’t pay the insurance fee cannot take their laptops off-campus.
It’s being reported that this student didn’t pay the insurance fee but took his laptop off-campus. That’s the excuse it sounds like the school is using for remotely activating his webcam and photographing him at home.
Yep. That’s what I get from the articles as well.
But the policy has a serious flaw. If it had been limited to use only if the laptop had been REPORTED stolen, then it would no longer be in possession of the authorized person and there would be no danger of violating their privacy.
By simply ASSUMING it was lost or stolen without it having been REPORTED by the student or contacting the authorized student to verify it was not in his possession, they must have known there was a chance they would be violating a student’s privacy, possibly including child porn with the webcam and the way students typically keep laptops in their bedrooms.
Whoever authorized this policy of activating the webcam without an actual report of stolen property is in big trouble. The school obviously has the parents home phone#, and they should have made a simple phone call asking if the laptop had been inadvertently taken home when that was not allowed without having paid the insurance to do so.
Schools do it a lot. My brother was on paid administrative leave for three years and got three raises in that period.
Many here on FR predicted early on that the school district would blame and punish the “street level” IT employees. I conclude from what is written here that they did nothing on their own without being direction from higher up.
being directed = directions
“Their lawyers said the use of the software was no secret”
It was for the parents!
Exactly! Furthermore, even if the laptop had been reported stolen, the school policy was wrong. The article linked in post #3 gives more info. As the article points out, other schools have been using the same technology to try to recover lost/stolen laptops. But, even the police need a warrant to search a property. How would you know what property you’re about to search (spy on) if you don’t know where the laptop is? This court case will be interesting.
Exactly. That’s what the whole issue is about.
If you keyword search *arth* or *webcam* it will take you to many other threads on the topic.
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