Rich Fiscus
19 Feb 2010 7:20
According to a lawsuit filed recently in US District Court, administrators at Lower Merion School District in Rosemont, PA used the webcam on a school issued laptop to illegally spy on a student. School officials are accused of violating federal wiretapping laws, as well as the student's civil rights.
The laptop is one of more than 2,000 issued to district high school students in order to give them access to school resources at all times. Each of the laptops is equipped with remote access software for locating the computers and secretly activating the onboard webcam in case they're stolen.
But that's not all it was used for according to the parents of Blake Robbins. They say their son was disciplined late last year for "improper behavior" based on a picture taken secretly by someone at the school who was monitoring him remotely.
Rather than admitting improper activities of their own, the school district appears to be going into full denial mode.
They posted a statement on their website stating "This feature has only been used for the limited purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever."
If that's the case, the obvious question is how the Assistant Principal at Robbins' school got a picture from his webcam, when the laptop apparently hadn't been reported stolen.
Any decision reached in this case could have far reaching implications considering the growing number of schools providing laptops to their students. These programs are very important, especially for poorer students who don't normally have the access to technology required for learning essential skills to succeed both in school, and later in the job market.
Giving students good reason not to use computers is counterproductive to say the least.
The school district's announcement said "The District is dedicated to protecting and promoting student privacy. The laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today."
It also indicated the district would not reactivate it without first notifying all students and families in writing.
That's not likely to be a consolation for students who no doubt feel personally violated, and will almost certainly not be using their laptops' webcams in the future, even for legitimate school activities.