Parents: school used webcam to spy on our kid at home - Ars Technica

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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Pa. district accused of student spying puts IT workers on leave
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  • Paul BozPaul Boz Member Posts: 2,620 ■■■■■■■■□□
    veritas_libertas wrote: »
    Pa. district accused of student spying puts IT workers on leave

    Don't be so sensational man. Did you even read the article? They didn't place them on administrative leave WITH PAY for wrongdoing. The specific employees were only activating the cameras after being given a request to do so by administrators. That fact isn't even being debated. This is a standard practice for employees who are directly involved in ongoing investigations. If a cop shoots and kills someone in self defense (and there's no question that it was justified) that cop is still placed on administrative leave with pay until the internal investigation is complete. This is a standard procedure for government jobs.
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Paul Boz wrote: »
    Don't be so sensational man. Did you even read the article? They didn't place them on administrative leave WITH PAY for wrongdoing. The specific employees were only activating the cameras after being given a request to do so by administrators. That fact isn't even being debated. This is a standard practice for employees who are directly involved in ongoing investigations. If a cop shoots and kills someone in self defense (and there's no question that it was justified) that cop is still placed on administrative leave with pay until the internal investigation is complete. This is a standard procedure for government jobs.

    I certainly didn't mean to be a sensationalist by merely put a link to an updated article. icon_rolleyes.gif

    I was actually much more interested in the fact that they were working with the police department before this whole thing even came out. I am beginning to wonder if the school might win this battle.
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  • Paul BozPaul Boz Member Posts: 2,620 ■■■■■■■■□□
    veritas_libertas wrote: »
    I certainly didn't mean to be like sensationalist by merely put a link to an updated article. icon_rolleyes.gif

    I was actually much more interested in the fact that they were working with the police department before this whole thing even came out. I am beginning to wonder if the school might actually win this battle.

    The title "Puts IT workers on leave" gives the impression that the IT workers were at fault. Either way, there's no way the school wins in this situation. Who cares if the cops were using it. That doesn't make it legal. Cops do unlawful stuff all the time. Even the software company has disabled the camera capabilities of their software to avoid this happening again.
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Paul Boz wrote: »
    The title "Puts IT workers on leave" gives the impression that the IT workers were at fault. Either way, there's no way the school wins in this situation. Who cares if the cops were using it. That doesn't make it legal. Cops do unlawful stuff all the time. Even the software company has disabled the camera capabilities of their software to avoid this happening again.

    Oh I agree! But most often the worst thing that can happen to a Cop is he will get fired. Unfair, but true and I grew up in a law enforcement family! I am following this case with great interest.
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Monday's field hearing is being led by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. It comes amid a lawsuit that accuses a Pennsylvania school district of spying on students through webcams on school-issued laptops. Lower Merion school officials say they were only trying to locate missing computers.

    Senate hearing in Philly focuses on laptop spying - Yahoo! Finance
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  • msteinhilbermsteinhilber Member Posts: 1,480 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Schools who issue students notebooks should either require a deposit of some sort to help ensure the notebooks are treated more as the students own (consequence of losing, theft, or accidental damage) or find another way to help ensure the integrity of their investment. If they can't do that, simple solution - stop issuing notebooks to students and allow them to purchase their own should they desire.

    Even the possibility of enabling a webcam under the right situation to help recover a stolen notebook is just going to take things another step closer to an Orwellian society. Take a good look at the UK (no offense to the UK members here) and you'll see where America is headed if we keep allowing things like this to happen.
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Every time I see an update on this case it only gets more interesting. Check out the alleged photo taken with the laptop's webcam.




    Lawyer: Laptops took thousands of images | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/15/2010
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  • ZartanasaurusZartanasaurus Member Posts: 2,008 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Creepy.
    Currently reading:
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  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    I read the article. If the software did it's job as intended: (1) Get picture of who was using laptop (2) Get IP address to locate laptop THAT'S IT
    The laptop taking a bunch of pictures, and not all in just 1 day, shows that the school was abusing this system. Take the one picture from the laptop taken home without the insurance then confront the student and/or parent with the evidence.
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
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  • laidbackfreaklaidbackfreak Member Posts: 991
    veritas_libertas wrote: »
    Every time I see an update on this case it only gets more interesting. Check out the alleged photo taken with the laptop's webcam.

    I'm not convinced that pic is from the laptop. The angle and range of the pic is wrong imo. Either that or the laptop was in an odd place.
    Anyone else think its odd ?
    if I say something that can be taken one of two ways and one of them offends, I usually mean the other one :-)
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  • Paul BozPaul Boz Member Posts: 2,620 ■■■■■■■■□□
    laidbackfreak wrote: »
    I'm not convinced that pic is from the laptop. The angle and range of the pic is wrong imo. Either that or the laptop was in an odd place.
    Anyone else think its odd ?

    No. Looks like its sitting on a nightstand or desk. I could see my laptop camera being in the same position, especially when I'm in hotels and the desk is next to the bed.
    CCNP | CCIP | CCDP | CCNA, CCDA
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  • laidbackfreaklaidbackfreak Member Posts: 991
    Paul Boz wrote: »
    No. Looks like its sitting on a nightstand or desk. I could see my laptop camera being in the same position, especially when I'm in hotels and the desk is next to the bed.

    Yep I agree with that, but why would the laptop be facing the pillow when in use ? I guess if he was lying down watching something on it yeah ok, just seems a bit odd to me. A bit too tightly cropped for an inbuilt web cam.
    if I say something that can be taken one of two ways and one of them offends, I usually mean the other one :-)
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Lower Merion schools: Number of webcam photos “substantial” | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/16/2010
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Amusingly the school emblem's Latin translation is, "Truth" icon_wink.gif
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Feds Say Judge Hampering Webcam Spy Probe | Threat Level | Wired.com
    Prosecutors are claiming that a federal judge is hampering a criminal investigation into a webcam scandal at a Philadelphia suburban school district.
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Prosecutor: No Charges in Webcam Spy Scandal | Threat Level | Wired.com
    Federal authorities announced Tuesday they will not prosecute administrators connected to a webcam spying scandal at a suburban Philadelphia school district. Prosecutors and the FBI opened an inquiry following a February privacy lawsuit accusing Lower Merion School District officials of spying on students with webcams on the 2,300 district-issued MacBooks. The lawyers who filed the lawsuit claim the district secretly snapped thousands of webcam images of students, including images of youths at home, in bed or even “partially dressed.”

    Read More Threat Level
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  • ArabianKnightArabianKnight Member Posts: 278 ■■■□□□□□□□
    That's why I have duck tape on my webcam!!
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  • TrainingDazeTrainingDaze Member Posts: 62 ■■□□□□□□□□
    It looks like the Pennsylvania school system has stumbled upon a new innovative approach to teaching the applied concepts of Orwell's "1984" .....in lieu of just assigning it as recommended reading? icon_lol.gif
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    TrainingDaze wrote: »
    It looks like the Pennsylvania school system has stumbled upon a new innovative approach to teaching the applied concepts of Orwell's "1984" .....in lieu of just assigning it as recommended reading? icon_lol.gif

    Nice... icon_lol.gif
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  • SephStormSephStorm Member Posts: 1,731 ■■■■■■■□□□
    I just wish we had an update on this.
    http://www.ethicalhacker.net/forums/index.php - sectestanalysis.blogspot.com
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    School District Pays $610,000 to Settle Webcam Spying Lawsuits | Threat Level | Wired.com
    A suburban Philadelphia school district is agreeing to pay $610,000 to settle two lawsuits brought by students who were victims of a webcam spying scandal in which high school-issued laptops secretly snapped thousands of pictures of pupils.
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  • veritas_libertasveritas_libertas Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
    I received this in my SANS daily update:
    --Pennsylvania School District Faces Third Lawsuit Over Laptop Tracking Software (June 8, 2011)

    The Lower Merion School District in Ardmore, Pennsylvania is facing a third lawsuit over its use of tracking and security software on laptops distributed to students. The school district was sued in February 2010 by the family of Blake Roberts; the district paid Roberts US $175,000 for taking pictures and screenshots with the computer while it was in his home. The district settled a second lawsuit brought last year by another student for US $10,000. A new lawsuit, filed on June 6, 2011 by Joshua Levin, a 2009 high school graduate, alleges that the school district violated his civil rights and privacy when it remotely used the built-in camera in the laptop to take more than 8,000 pictures and screenshots. A spokesperson for the school district says that Levin's case is "solely motivated by monetary interests."

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/webcam-scandal-resurfaces/

    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217439/Penn._school_district_hit_with_new_Mac_spying_lawsuit?taxonomyId=17

    [Editor's Comment (Ranum): That's an utterly bizzare response to a lawsuit: "they just are in it for the money." And, why not? What the school district did seems incredibly stupid, and left them open to such punitive damages. What about the word "punitive" does not compute, Mr Spokesman? The idea is to show why it's a bad idea, since, apparently, that's the only way some people learn. (Northcutt): 8,000 pictures and screenshots posted without permission would make me consider filing suit for other than "monetary interests". If true, how can they possibly justify that level of privacy invasion of an underage kid?]
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