High School Sued For Spying On Students With Laptop Cameras, page 7
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reply posted on 20-2-2010 @ 02:55 PM by Ratkiller
reply to post by ModernAcademia


The ability has been in place for sometime. A persons cellphone, the cable or satellite TV box, Onstar, and GPS devices can also be activated remotely and used as ways to keep tabs on you. Even the new HD TV's are capable of SENDING as well as receiving. Don't believe, take one apart and check the circuit yourself.


reply posted on 21-2-2010 @ 04:29 PM by Albastion
Originally posted by ConcernedBrother
My brother goes to the school mentioned in the above article, Harriton High School. I'd like to summarize what happened since there's a lot of rumors floating about on other sites, not sure about this one. The kid in question, named Blake, partook in an “illegal” action. Not that I care, since the activation of the camera is a complete violation of rights. He was smoking pot and the reason they claim they activated the camera is because they had suspicion he was dealing drugs. Which is a stupid excuse, considering he isn’t a drug dealer, and also that gives them no right. Besides, it’s pot. Not a big deal. But anyway they took a snapshot of him blazing and used it to interrogate him or what have you. I’ve borrowed my brother’s laptop as well a few times and noticed the camera would randomly turn on. As in the green light would turn on, on the apple laptop. I didn’t think much of it since I knew no one would be sick enough to spy on underage kids. However, I was obviously wrong. This camera has also turned on when my brother has been undressing to take a shower, since the laptop is open when he listens to music, when showering. Federal money payed for the laptops (go figure). This same high school charges at least $20 just to get a parking pass.


This is a very important post because this person allegedly knows someone who goes to the high school.

Reading all the articles and this thread, I have come to the conclusion that the software was activated for a purpose other than to find a stolen laptop, which is what the school superintendent claimed in this article: FBI Investigates Webcam Spy Allegations Against School.


“While we understand the concerns, in every one of the fewer than 50 instances in which the tracking software was used this school year, its sole purpose was to try to track down and locate a student's computer," he wrote. "While certain rules for laptop use were spelled out - such as prohibitive uses on and off school property - there was no explicit notification that the laptop contained the security software. This notice should have been given and we regret that was not done."


It seems like they suspected he was doing drugs (hence the Mike and Ikes) and were able to remotely access the webcam, without prior permission, to monitor the student without him knowing.

To monitor someone's behavior without them knowing is to SPY on them. They fully intended to use the software to catch the kid in the act and spy on him in the process. They were not using the software to find stolen laptops. They were using the software to spy on the student for an indeterminate amount of time.

There are plenty of computer programs available that can help recover stolen laptops without using a camera, so there is no excuse for the school policy to be to remotely activate the cameras.

I also find it disturbing that the students and parents were not informed that the cameras could be activated remotely.

It is also disturbing that in this case, the laptop had not even been stolen! It seems pretty arbitrary to me that they would choose to go through these methods to catch one particular student that they suspected of doing drugs, for whatever reason.

[edit on 21-2-2010 by Albastion]


reply posted on 7-3-2010 @ 05:03 PM by wiredamerican
reply to post by BalderAsir




they say that by been able to remotely access the web-cam they will be able to locate a stolen laptop? Where is the logic in this


you know those pictures in yearbooks do serve more than one purpose.

I am sure, they were flipping through the yearbook frantically looking for what they would call "perps".


reply posted on 16-4-2010 @ 12:10 PM by Keyhole
Thought I'd update this thread with the newest "news" on this subject, ...

Lawyer: Laptops Took Thousands of Images
The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes,
******SKIP******
More than once, the motion asserts, the camera on Robbins' school-issued laptop took photos of Robbins as he slept in his bed. Each time, it fired the images off to network servers at the school district.

Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into "a little LMSD soap opera," a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program.

"I know, I love it," she is quoted as having replied.

So , apparently the people who were allowed to see the images taken routinely looked at the images, and quite frequently I would guess for them to consider the pictures like "a soap opera".

Why didn't these people think that what they were doing was wrong?

Soooo wrong!

This laptop computer took around 400 pictures of one student alone, ...
In the filing, the Penn Valley family claims the district's records show that the controversial tracking system captured more than 400 photos and screen images from 15-year-old Blake Robbins' school-issued laptop during two weeks last fall, and that "thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes."

And then there's this, ...

U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois has ordered all parties in the case to meet by Tuesday, the latest step toward a settlement. Meanwhile, federal and county investigators are examining whether the laptop security program violated any laws.

Well, if it didn't, then I think they need to add a new law to their books!

[edit on 4/16/2010 by Keyhole]


reply posted on 16-4-2010 @ 02:29 PM by americandingbat
Originally posted by Keyhole
Thought I'd update this thread with the newest "news" on this subject, ...

Lawyer: Laptops Took Thousands of Images
The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes,


Thanks for the update.

So much for the claim that the remote activation of the cameras was only used to track lost or stolen computers

edit: fixing quote tags

[edit on 4/16/2010 by americandingbat]


reply posted on 17-4-2010 @ 10:18 AM by Rapacity
Keyhole, you beat me to it, thanks

There's more information at The Register too.

The laptop that lead to this case wasn't even registered as stolen or missing as alleged by the school/education authority:

Robbins' $1,000 laptop was not believed to be missing, so the theft-tracking software never should have been activated, his attorney has argued.

School officials told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the software was turned on because Robbins' family had failed to pay a $55 insurance fee to cover the laptop, so he was not authorized to take it home. They also say there is no evidence to indicate school employees used any of the images inappropriately.


What an example to set the young and impressionable minds of our children.

Absolutely sickening abuse of position and status.
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