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Posted on 03/21/2010 1:55:15 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
Soon after Lower Merion schools started handing out laptops to high school students in 2008, a school board member had a question: Were any being lost or stolen?
The query, from Jerry Novick, drew a small smile from the technology chief, Virginia DeMedio.
"We did have a theft," she said. "And we have a way we can track them. . . .
"There were six that were taken. All but one came back."
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
Electrical tape, meet camera lens.
** more info on webcam gate **
Update ping
This screams “Big Brother.”
In Robbins' case, the tracking system wasn't activated to find a missing computer; according to his lawyer, the school knew he had been using the same loaner for a month.
Instead, someone decided to initiate Theft Tracker because it was suspected Robbins was taking the laptop home without permission, sources said.
The tracking program, by logging the laptop's Internet address overnight, would prove it. But, as was routine, Perbix left all three features running. Every 15 minutes, LANrev tried to log the location, snap a picture, and capture an image of what was on Robbins' screen.
What the program found alarmed the technical staff. One image showed him holding what looked like pills. Robbins says it was really Mike & Ike candy.
Interesting. I don't defend the school's actions in spying but I do have some questions and observations.
1.Why did the school let this kid take out another laptop when he'd already broken two of them and hadn't paid for the insurance?
2.Is his family looking for a windfall here?
3. I don't buy the Mike & Ike candy story, but I suppose that's beside the point.
I think the school was in the wrong, but I don't find the kid and his family very sympathetic, either.
One thing about this case: It sure brought the issue of webcam spying to everyone’s attention. If this family hadn’t filed suit, many of us would’ve never known it was going on.
That’s true, and I’m glad the issue is getting attention. I just wish the plaintiffs in this case were more sympathetic.
Exactly....
IMO, the problem started when the school instituted the mandatory laptop program to begin with.
If anything good comes out of it, that alone is enough.
Agreed. What does a high school student study that cannot be learned without a laptop computer?
I would add that I think the laptop program is a poor use of taxpayer funds by the school. It’s the kind of thing that makes me vote against a lot of school bond issues.
Laptops are good tools to have, but what kids really need for and from an education does not require them.
Let them learn to research papers using the library, do math without calculators, write without spell check and grammar check.
If they absolutely need the computer that bad, they can use the school’s on school property and school time.
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