Lets Play I Spy.

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

One of the creepiest sorts of software out there is the sort that can spy on you; the ability to capture key strokes, to take screen shots, to track the website that any specific user navigates to. The creepiest before today was the ability to gain access and even control a specific user’s computer remotely.

Now back in high school I know that teachers were able to see what was on a student’s computer screen, and even access them to exit out of content not pertaining to the class. I however never had this concern because I was a teacher’s assistant, but specifically the nurse’s assistant so I had a privacy contact with the school so nobody not health related could see my account because of possible sensitive information.

So at this point you might want to know: “TwisT how is this important? Why are you reporting on this? Why have I wasted the last two minutes and forty three seconds reading this article?” The answer to these possible questions is, you could quite possibly have as little of a life as I do; specifically though a lawsuit has been served to the Lower Merion School District in Ardmore, PA.

This lawsuit declares that the school district has allegedly abused a feature which was included only to “track lost, stolen, and missing laptops.” The parents of a student by the name of Blake Robbins were notified by administration at Harriton High School that their son had been involved in improper behavior in his personal home.

The administrations officer allegedly showed the parents a photo of their son that was taken remotely by the internal webcam of his school issued webcam. The assistant principle of Harriton High School by the name of Lindy Matsko, confirmed that the school “in fact has the ability to remotely activate the webcam contained in a student’s personal laptop computer issued by the school district at any time it chose, & to view & capture whatever images were in front of the webcam.”

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fourth Amendment, & transgressions of the Electronic Comminication Privacy Act, Computer Fraud Abuse Act, Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, the Stored Communications Act, Pennsylvania Wiretapping & Electronic Surveillance Act, & Pennsylvania common law.

The school was slow to respond to the lawsuit questioning if the facility had been used before. Why it was being used at that specific time on that precise student, or if they had used it regularly. They have however released that the feature has been deactivated immediately. They followed up by stating that the tracking feature had not been put to use for any other purposes or in any other manner whatsoever. The school district says that they will continue the investigation. A prime concern which is understandable for students and parents is that the images or even video captured could be during dressing or undressing; with a significant other one or compromising moments. Another point to be made is that this is a high school & that some of the students may not be of legal age and photos captured while they are undressed or dressing would be considered possession of child pornography.

This news has made me very secure in my decision to place electric tape over the internal webcam built into my Asus.

Any thoughts, concerns, comments, not including bashing. If you must bash or flame, PM me your thoughts. You might make it into an article yourself.

-TwisT

[Kilokk]

holy hell thats nuts!

[aquatsr]

Wow! Glad I don't go to that school...

[laxboy]

great read, I am happy to say that I dont go to this school either.

[SN!P3R]

I'd be pissed, i would sue the school for all they had

[Nefarius]

Thats some creepy business! Glad I don't have a built in Cam, otherwise I'd tape it for sure.

Technology is great, isn't it.

[dedafmonteur]

Buy mac OS....lol

but for real dude, i would do the same, and tape up my mic to.

[Kilokk]

lol i am glad that this isnt a school lappy lol

[PspKicks316]

Buy mac OS....lol

If you read the Engadget article, a ton of people's Macbooks are "infiltrated" as well, so to speak.

[ryan0]

back in my secondary school I refused them access to my laptop,my parents backed me up,bammo

I hate that it that the school thinks it's their business to notify the parents about things outside of school,that's totally out of their jurisdiction and illegal.
When my old principal seen my smoking one weekend,I came into school the next monday and was told that I was being suspended for smoking.I mean wtf?!?They called up my parents (which thankfully knew that I smoke at this stage),my dad flatly told him to p*ss off.And during the week which they suspended me for,me and my dad went skiing.......awesome

[aquatsr]

Seems like the laptops were issued by the school? I don't think it matters whether they have a Mac or not.

[jrfhoutx]

One step closer to A Brave New World... glad they didn't have that when I was in school, I would've been expelled...

[dedafmonteur]

One step closer to A Brave New World... glad they didn't have that when I was in school, I would've been expelled...

Same.

[kink192]

the school had issued macbooks which had the built in webcams, they had a security feature on them that let them view screenshots, and webcam images. there we go.

thats just not right. couple friends of mine go to a school that issues laptops and luckily they dont have webcams on them. easiest thing to do for a good temporary relief is to run a Live OS when your at home, or disable the webcam drivers.

@ryan0 good thing your parents were on your side. something like that happened to a buddy of mine, he fought a kid a couple blocks away from the school, both kids went to school and the kid who got beat up told the principle and my friend almost got expelled.

[robin1989]

its got to be bad engadget just posted saying the FBI, one of the biggest government organisations related to wire tapping etc, think it may of been illegal all thats needed now is the cia to say so as well and its a done deal.

[FreeK]

hell, if my school's IT department really wants to seem my on cam, then ill just call'em :censored:s, and to gtfo.

i do go to school, my eeePC does have a built'in webcam, i have used it (the laptop) at school for non-curricular activities, and if they want to sue me for what i do at home, ima go berserk.

im glad my school is too poor to lend out laptops to students.

[TwisTtheTwiTcH]

if they want to sue me for what i do at home, ima go berserk.

It is not the school that is pressing charges against the student and the parents. It is the parents that are pressing charges against the school.

Imagine having sex in your bed room with your girlfriend / boyfriend & then being suspended from school because of innapropriate behavior.

-TwisT

[FreeK]

lolololololo. even better then...

ima leave my camera on now.

i wouldnt mind some money coming my way for making a webcam porno.

unless it gets on the internet, then there will be some hell to pay.

[FOOKz™]

*Duct Tapes Webcam*

[dedafmonteur]

In my old school they coud see everything you did on your account. On my new school we have free Wlan and we can use the computers in school. We need to log-in and .

The funny thing is we allways with them, we go to porn site's and leave them open and see what happend. it usually takes 20 min. till they close the site remotely.

If they would look trough the cams in my country you can sue them and even involve the media.

[kink192]

i could understand if they had the consent of the families and people issued the laptops, but the main thing is, they didnt. and then they lied on top of it

[robin1989]

i could understand if they had the consent of the families and people issued the laptops, but the main thing is, they didnt. and then they lied on top of it

now i dont know about this case but it is very probable that both the student and the parents gave permission for them to as most schools now have a IT policy that they have you sign and i know for a fact that the one i signed was long and boring so i didnt read it