Posted on 02/22/2010 1:26:33 PM PST by CJBernard
A standstill order is expected today from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on the case of Lower Merion School District’s alleged practice of spying on students in their own homes through the use of school-issued, webcam-equipped laptop computers. The order is designed to provide all sides with a chance to better assess the technological issues facing this growing controversy.
While the language of the order is still being worked out at this time, a hearing into the plaintiffs’ Motion for Issuance of a Emergency Temporary Restraining Order and Permanent Injunction, filed on Friday afternoon by Mark Haltzman, attorney for Harriton High School Sophomore Blake Robbins, touched upon the major concerns addressed by Haltzman in Friday’s motion, as well as some concerns raised by counsel for the school district in a court filing today.
Three main issues unfolded in Courtroom 12-B: the language of any court order, how best the school district can keep parents and students apprised of the controversy as it continues, and balancing a need to update hardware and software with the reality of preserving essential evidence.
(Excerpt) Read more at americasright.com ...
Word of advise to anyone with a camera built into their computer: cover up the lens unless you are actually using it.
About six years ago I put software in my PCs and the ones my kids took places. The code allowed me to track a stolen machine. Good idea.
I think we have here a political situation here gone completely out of control. One really didn’t need access to a camera image to track a stolen machine. A bit of overkill IMHO.
What was it I heard on Fox? Each kiddy porn image downloaded, saved, or even just viewed carries a 5 year penalty?
So says their resident lawyer. He seemed to think any image glimpsed of a <18 year old changing in their bedroom would qualify...
OK, we have the laptop in our bedroom. Why? Because we have a writing desk and an outlet there, and it’s a flat space.
So, if I were one of the students given a laptop used to spy on me, theis is what I would do. Alledge that my adolescent body had been spied upon while in compromising positions (taking a shower, getting dressed/undressing) and let the school fight a couple hundred child porn cases.
I see no defense for what the school did.
One could argue that with a court order, one should be able to view the user(s) of a stolen computer.
No one is arguing that the computers in question were reported as stolen, or even missing.
And no one says they got a court order.
another reason to keep duct tape handy!
I loved the kid’s response this morning. “They could of seen me naked” “Any old pervert could of been watching me”
Yeah, some 23-year-old cougar.
I’m sorry but if one of my PCs is stolen I’m not going to get no stinkin court order. Courts are nothing but the tools of attorneys that rape and bankrupt the American citizen.
Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
Any thief worth a damn will know to put a piece of black electrical tape over the camera, and there goes you good idea.
Nope! I spray painted mine with black epoxy and the SS showed up 2-days later on orders from the WH...
Looked at the AR site, and it looks like there was an update. The order was approved, and it’s broken down there.
But what, what, if a parent looks askew at junior and we DON’T have the camera on. How could we EVER save the poor child from such abuse.
Whoa, hold on. I agree with you, but there is a difference here.
You, as owner of the computer and parent of your children, put a code in that allows you to determine and track where your property is. You have that right; well and good.
What is wrong here is that the government (i.e. school) misused their technology and spied on private citizens in their home. They may have in loco parentiis "rights" when the student is AT school, but not at home when parents are present. They likewise have no right to spy on the parents residing in that home. There are ways of determining the location of a wayward laptop without resorting to what amounts to government interference and invasion of privacy.
I would imagine that if the computers have camera capability, they also have voice capability. That’s another violation of privacy, there.
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