School Used Student Laptop Webcams To Spy On Them At School And Home

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students
in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this
facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for improper
behavior in his home and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on
behalf of all students issued with these machines..

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don't know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while
I'm getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its
students' clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying .

Schools are in an absolute panic about kids divulging too much online, worried about pedos and marketers and embarrassing photos
that will haunt you when you run for office or apply for a job in 10 years. They tell kids to treat their personal details as though
they were precious. But when schools take that personal information, indiscriminately invading privacy (and, of course, punishing
students who use proxies and other privacy tools to avoid official surveillance), they send a much more powerful message,
your privacy is worthless and you shouldn't try to protect it.

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Fri, Mar. 5, 2010

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.


The district has acknowledged that the software was used 42 times this school year. Still unknown is how many students were photographed, how
many photos were taken, and what they showed.

After the lawsuit was filed, district officials said they had disabled the remote surveillance system. They also acknowledged they had not disclosed
its existence to parents.

Update Article