Webcamgate: FBI closes the book on criminal charges related to school spying on students

Webcamgate: FBI closes the book on criminal charges related to school spying on students

www.examiner.com

No criminal charges will be filed against the Lower Merion School District in suburban Philadelphia that secretly snapped tens of thousands of webcam photographs and screen shots originating from laptops the school issued to students. The FBI and federal prosecutors have announced that they could not prove any criminal wrongdoing by the Lower Merion School District employees.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is very cool, so i guess this can be used across all schools without anyone worrying about invasion of privacy. Strike 1 for the watchers.

So i guess if anyone out there has just received a pc from their local school then your more or less aware of what can and cannot be done.



www.examiner.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow ats is lagging. Anyhow..

I'd be pissed too, but I expect the students/parents had to sign a contract/waiver when the school offered them the laptops to use.

So with that much said, as long as the school doesn't possess any jail-bait pictures of students naked, there's nothing really the administration can be charged for.

READ THE FINE PRINT

I for one cannot understan why they didn't press charges. I doubt there is any contract that would allow such a blatant invasion of privacy. They might as well put webcams in the toilets. Someone has to have one of those contracts around. I'd like to read the 'fine print'.

Can we stop calling every scandal "-gate"?
Please guys?

Well its a fine line when and how one interrupts the law. I was to sell pc's would i be found liable if i too had installed such or similar applications. In any case, its always prudent to tape up that web cam you see embedded within the laptop or simply d/c the web cam.

When i was at school in london in 1992 i found out they where using electronic mind control, and they absolutely wanted to wreck my life with it.

Schools do spy on the kids fact and my life proves it.

If things like electronic mind control existed in 1992 in uk in schools, it most definately is in usa schools.

Privacy comes dirt cheap these days. Let's hope they draw a line under this to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's easy to get focused on the story because it involves kids.

The actual issues are privacy and the boundaries between work/school/home. Work or school should not feel entitled to monitor private lives without a very good cause. Wholesale monitoring like this Dept engaged should be unacceptable.

To be fair, any adult with a brain and a conscience would've known a damn sight better. I can't see the head of the school lasting for long...

Pervert and peeping Tom are the kind of tags he's liable to attract and who in their right mind would have any trust in the guy? He screwed up and I bet it'll bite him.

Originally posted by tristar


This is very cool, so i guess this can be used across all schools without anyone worrying about invasion of privacy. Strike 1 for the watchers.

So i guess if anyone out there has just received a pc from their local school then your more or less aware of what can and cannot be done.


www.examiner.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't understand this post. Did you read the whole article or just the title? This is not cool, and it never said what could not be done, just what could be done. Pretty much anything. They can still see where you are and what you are doing whenever they want.

I can understand taking screenshots of your computer and tracking your general location and seeing what you are doing on the computer, since it is their computer they issued to you, but being able to physically watch you do it is another story.

Only 2 things come to mind when I hear about something like this. One, how schools are becoming more and more intrusive into the lives of their students and two, some sick fantasy being played out by pedophile school officials. Ever find it odd that whenever there's a "sexting" scandal or nude photos of a young girl going around it's always the schoolboard or *usually male* principals who deal with it and collect the evidence, not the FBI? I think it's almost safe to say that public schools are becoming Catholic Clergy 2.0. I'm just glad I graduated in a simpler time.

It was shocking to hear that a school could use a computer to take pictures of students when they are at home. How did we get to the point where it seems to be alright to watch children at home, possibly in their bedrooms and other places as well? Couldn't the school also document other activities taking place in the home, and do they really have permission to watch and listen to other people who live with the student?

If I had a child that went to that school, they would not have my permission to record anything that happened in my home or my car or elsewhere, not sure that is covered by whatever parents had to sign.

Seems like because they did not use the information, they are being given a free pass by the justice system. Wonder how many other school districts are doing this sort of thing? Creepy.

Originally posted by havenvideo

Originally posted by tristar


This is very cool, so i guess this can be used across all schools without anyone worrying about invasion of privacy. Strike 1 for the watchers.

So i guess if anyone out there has just received a pc from their local school then your more or less aware of what can and cannot be done.


www.examiner.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't understand this post. Did you read the whole article or just the title? This is not cool, and it never said what could not be done, just what could be done. Pretty much anything. They can still see where you are and what you are doing whenever they want.

I can understand taking screenshots of your computer and tracking your general location and seeing what you are doing on the computer, since it is their computer they issued to you, but being able to physically watch you do it is another story.

Only 2 things come to mind when I hear about something like this. One, how schools are becoming more and more intrusive into the lives of their students and two, some sick fantasy being played out by pedophile school officials. Ever find it odd that whenever there's a "sexting" scandal or nude photos of a young girl going around it's always the schoolboard or *usually male* principals who deal with it and collect the evidence, not the FBI? I think it's almost safe to say that public schools are becoming Catholic Clergy 2.0. I'm just glad I graduated in a simpler time.

i don't understand this post. Did you read his whole post (and the fact that he was the OP) or only the first line?

I think you might want to calibrate your sarcasm detector.

On topic: this is a disgusting story. Just like with Goldman Sachs, when it was proven that they were selling toxic derivatives and then betting against them on the market, some people are given a free pass. All men apparently were not created equal.

Lady Liberty, how tarnished you have become.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan

Originally posted by havenvideo

Originally posted by tristar


This is very cool, so i guess this can be used across all schools without anyone worrying about invasion of privacy. Strike 1 for the watchers.

So i guess if anyone out there has just received a pc from their local school then your more or less aware of what can and cannot be done.


www.examiner.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I don't understand this post. Did you read the whole article or just the title? This is not cool, and it never said what could not be done, just what could be done. Pretty much anything. They can still see where you are and what you are doing whenever they want.

I can understand taking screenshots of your computer and tracking your general location and seeing what you are doing on the computer, since it is their computer they issued to you, but being able to physically watch you do it is another story.

Only 2 things come to mind when I hear about something like this. One, how schools are becoming more and more intrusive into the lives of their students and two, some sick fantasy being played out by pedophile school officials. Ever find it odd that whenever there's a "sexting" scandal or nude photos of a young girl going around it's always the schoolboard or *usually male* principals who deal with it and collect the evidence, not the FBI? I think it's almost safe to say that public schools are becoming Catholic Clergy 2.0. I'm just glad I graduated in a simpler time.

i don't understand this post. Did you read his whole post (and the fact that he was the OP) or only the first line?

I think you might want to calibrate your sarcasm detector.

On topic: this is a disgusting story. Just like with Goldman Sachs, when it was proven that they were selling toxic derivatives and then betting against them on the market, some people are given a free pass. All men apparently were not created equal.

Lady Liberty, how tarnished you have become.

Lady Liberty, aaa..yes..i do seem to recall her.. , didn't she represent something way way back then in the stone age ear.

As infuriating as I find this, I'm not surprised. Just another precedent set in the push toward a surveillance society.

This just proves the old adage true: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

If there's an upside to this, it's that the government itself, through their own misdeeds, are teaching kids that those in power aren't to be trusted.


TheAssoc.

[edit on 25-8-2010 by TheAssociate]