School used student laptops to spy

[Skelly]

EXACTLY.

That's not to say we are their bosses, but there is something wrong when we pay for some other entity and they try to dictate our lives. Even if they were paying me something, I would still have a hard time when them trying to control people they way they try to.

You mean like...governments?

[BOTWKNKTL85]

So the school's trying to cover it's butt. Here's two new updates on this.

Laptop-Spying School District Superintendent Claiming Security Feature:
http://gizmodo.com/5475668/laptop+sp...curity-feature

Students Knew "MacBook Cameras Turned On Randomly" as School Administrators Gave Technical Excuses:
http://gizmodo.com/5474975/update-st...hnical-excuses

[Rageaholic]

Update!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_laptop...ng_on_students

Apparently, the School District claimed they activated the webcam only to find missing laptops. If that's true, then why were they spying on students?

[Vagabond]

LOL.
There are sooo many things wrong.
1. If the laptop wasn't reported stolen, why say you turned on the camera to find a stolen laptop? Hmmm, someone is lying.
2. Remote activation software - why, do find out how many hours of video gaming a kid does? or whatelse he does online? How much he or she hates whatever class at school? retarded.
3. Pedophilia has already been mentioned, so I won't rehash.
4. I'm a paranoid person, so while i do have a built-in video-cam, it's blocked/covered up and I have 2 anti-virus/spyware programs on, and I'm not always connected to the internet at home. (Hardline only, and I unplug when I'm done). So, I would have to say if you're a teen and you know someone could spy on you... would you not cover up the video and/or mike? Unless of course - you wanted to be seen?

But, yeah, bad idea and bad judgement on the Schools part.

[Racket_Man]

EXACTLY.


My guess would be "experimenting" with himself, something every teenager does. They weren't very specific so I can only fill in the blanks. And if they did catch it on tape, then that would not only be child pornography charges, but blackmail as well.

So yeah, I bet he was masturbating.

Update!


Apparently, the School District claimed they activated the webcam only to find missing laptops. If that's true, then why were they spying on students?

according to the article the Vice Principle "CLAIMS" they have an "embedded photo" of the child with "Pills" and suspected him of "dealing drugs". the child claims the "pills" were actually Mike and Ike candy.

at least now the FBI is involved looking into illegal wiretapping and such.

so I f this particular laptop was NOT reported STOLEN, what was the school district doing activating the webcam for?????

I still do NOT get it. I have a resonable expectation of privacy in my HOME (child or adult unless you get in to cam chatting or such), but to have someone activate the can at RANDOM to CHECK up on ME?????

That would be like my employer demanding to have 24/7 access to my personal home PC/network so they could ehck up on me during my off hours.

[smileyeagle1021]

This is a very SC argument. You are not their boss, unless you are higher up the chain than them in the school board. Yes, the taxes you pay on things contribute to the funds from which they draw your salary, but you get no extra say over them. By your logic, everyone is their boss.

Umm, slight nitpick... but school board positions are up for election, so theoretically, everyong is their boss because they vote on who the supervisors will be...

Back on topic, I've tried running through every scenario possible trying to think of the one where this would be justified... not a single one coming to mind.

[Fryk]

Ok, so if the remote access was used to find stolen laptops, and that's it, then why did the Vice Principal call the boy in to give him punishment for taking illegal Mike and Ikes?

[Vagabond]

1. If the laptop wasn't reported stolen, why say you turned on the camera to find a stolen laptop? Hmmm, someone is lying.

Somebody was lying.

I wonder how that would look in the court of public opinion?
"I will confess to eating Mike & Ikes, if you (referring to school VP) confess to spying on an underage child in the privacy of his bedroom using remote viewing webcam for which the school said was to be able to find stolen laptops, on a laptop that was not reported as stolen."

Something tells me that would not go down well at all. Bad Prediction:
No one is going to get punished (except for the kid eating Mike & Ikes) and no responsibility will be taken. The school will issue a public apology and then it will be back to business as usual. Business as usual will mean laptops with webcams and more remote viewing. The school is just going to be a little more discrete about things. At least for a few years until someone gets busted for child porn.

[Rageaholic]

This just gets wierder and wierder. Mike and Ike candy? Really? Even though it is none of their business what he does at home, they can't even get it right! Then they have the balls to claim it was for security reasons when it was blatently obvious they were spying on them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

That's the districts new theme song. They've earned it fair and square.

[Rapscallion]

The irony for me is that teachers have been - rightfully - saying for ages that they're not the parents, and yet this technology has been used to do what is effectively parenting.

Rapscallion

[Dreamstalker]

Why do they need a webcam to find stolen laptops (what do they do, match faces of whoever's using it to make sure it's the student it was given to)? Isn't there another less-intrusive security feature they could use?

If the school could activate the webcams remotely, who's to say that nobody else would be able to hack in and do the same?

[Wingates_Hellsing]

Why do they need a webcam to find stolen laptops (what do they do, match faces of whoever's using it to make sure it's the student it was given to)? Isn't there another less-intrusive security feature they could use?

If the school could activate the webcams remotely, who's to say that nobody else would be able to hack in and do the same?

That's what seemed odd to me. Apart from perhaps verifying the identity of the user at any given moment, it's not that good of an anti-theft tool. Internal GPS would be more practical, as you could therefore know where it was and compare that with where it should be.

[smileyeagle1021]

Isn't there another less-intrusive security feature they could use?

Ask and ye shall receive

Very lo tech. Every time you log onto the internet your IP address is logged in your account. If ever you report your laptop stolen, all they need to do is report the IP address to the police to trace it back to it's physical connection (or something like that). As long as the thief accesses the internet you got 'em... yeah, they might not go online, but then spying on the webcam wouldn't help you any then either.

[elsporko]

LOL.
There are sooo many things wrong.
1. If the laptop wasn't reported stolen, why say you turned on the camera to find a stolen laptop? Hmmm, someone is lying.
2. Remote activation software - why, do find out how many hours of video gaming a kid does? or whatelse he does online? How much he or she hates whatever class at school? retarded.
3. Pedophilia has already been mentioned, so I won't rehash.
4. I'm a paranoid person, so while i do have a built-in video-cam, it's blocked/covered up and I have 2 anti-virus/spyware programs on, and I'm not always connected to the internet at home. (Hardline only, and I unplug when I'm done). So, I would have to say if you're a teen and you know someone could spy on you... would you not cover up the video and/or mike? Unless of course - you wanted to be seen?

But, yeah, bad idea and bad judgement on the Schools part.

Having more then one anti spyware/virus program running at once can actually mess them both up and make you more vulnerable.