This Is Unbelievable! - Invasion Of Privacy school in Pennsylvania spying students using laptop

[sheepdog 10]

OMG!!! I can't believe what I heard on the news tonight! This is unreal! A school in Pennsylvania sent home lap top computers with some of the kids. The computers had video cameras that could be activated remotely. The school principal activated one of the kids cameras while the boy was in the privacy of his own home, and took pictures, they claimed that they thought he "might be engaging in inappropriate behavior" and wanted to check up on him, they even confronted him with the pictures they had taken of him. What right does a school principle have to do something like this??? When did they get police powers?? The police can't even legally spy on you in your own home. What in the hell is wrong with these people?? I hope they arrest every single one of them that had anything even remotely to do with this disgusting rape of our privacy. Lock them away for a very long time!

Edited February 20, 2010 by OpaQue
Please put proper title and description. Title and description should be relevant to your post. Dont use them only for getting attention. (see edit history)

[deadmad7 4]

It's hard to know what to say about this. It utterly dumbfounds me.I mean the school had to decide this was something they should do, indicating more than one person made this decision. At the very least, one person made this decision then a lot of other people knew about it and didn't cry out in outrage. Somehow it was kept a secret, until this Vice Principal character decided a students behaviour warranted disciplinary action. Outing the whole program. I mean, how screwed are the heads of the people that decided this was a good idea? How utterly stupid is this vice principal thinking it wouldn't bring a lawsuit and about the worst negative publicity you could imagine on the school. How pathetically weak were the people who knew about this, disagreed and still kept their mouths shut? Everything about this is just wrong, wrong, wrong.Also in Digital Nation, the documentary project that Douglas Ruskoff was a big part of, explored a similar issue. They showed a school (middle or high school) that really embraced laptops and new media as part of the learning process. It was the job of a staff member to spend a couple hours each day monitoring what the students were doing - working, surfing, etc. The staff member who was monitoring showed how he could remotely snap a photo when a student was using Photobooth during class, and how this usually caused them to get back to work.But that was at school with laptops presumably provided by the school, so while it still feels a bit odd to me, I think there's a good argument for the practice in that environment.But to extend that to the students' homes? That's terrible. And really creepy.I hope it wasn't the same school that they showed in Digital Nation, because I kinda liked their style.

[sheepdog 10]

Sorry, no link, I heard it on the evening news. Yes, I do get away from the computer occasionally, lol!I'm sure there will be a lot of info about this coming up in the near future. Unless they try to sweep it under the rug, which I am sure they would certainly like to. If I see a link to the story, I'll sure post it.

[Soviet Rathe 1]

Yes I saw that too, it just makes me mad, no one, not even the law imo has a right to watch kids from a webcam.. that's communism, a complete lack of freedom and privacy. I hope the parents that are suing them get's them for millions, and I hope all the kids's parents affected sues them.

@anwiii No, the story I heard the kids obviously didn't know this was going on, one of the kids that was interviewed even put tape over the webcam after he heard what happened.

Here's the story, (kfvs12 is my local news station :angel: ) http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

OMG!!! I can't believe what I heard on the news tonight! This is unreal! A school in Pennsylvania sent home lap top computers with some of the kids. The computers had video cameras that could be activated remotely. The school principal activated one of the kids cameras while the boy was in the privacy of his own home, and took pictures, they claimed that they thought he "might be engaging in inappropriate behavior" and wanted to check up on him, they even confronted him with the pictures they had taken of him. What right does a school principle have to do something like this??? When did they get police powers?? The police can't even legally spy on you in your own home. What in the hell is wrong with these people?? I hope they arrest every single one of them that had anything even remotely to do with this disgusting rape of our privacy. Lock them away for a very long time!

being in New Jersey I heard a snippet of this too. Only 3 words came to mind when I heard about this.

Big Brother and Pedophile.

[jlhaslip 4]

Echo, that's 4 words...You Yanks are just too paranoid. You should live in smaller towns. The neighbours tell you what you are going to do BEFORE you do it... :angel:I'm wondering if the Administrator that took the pictures is now working with Homeland Security...

[anwiii 17]

haha, ain't THAT the truth! i have lived in small towns for the last 5 years or so. anyway, it seems like it was a security issue or at least that is what the school is claiming. they actually give out laptops to all the students(i have never heard of a school doing this before) and some of the laptops were supposedly reported stolen. so when they ran their security features which enabled the webcams to see where the missing laptops were, pictures were taken. the reason why there is a big fuss now is that the administration interegated a child about one or more of the pictures that were taken and thought the child might have been taking pills, but it turned out it was only candy. the school recovered some of the laptops that were missing, but not all of them after they activated the webcams and other security features on the laptop. BUT! this is only going by what the school is saying. it may or may not be true. also, when someone asked the kid if the laptop was reported stolen, he failed to comment due to the pending lawsuit. that's fishy to me.....almost like they don't want to admit that the laptops were reported stolen and the school was within their rights to legally recover the laptops by turning on the webcams of the missing laptops.

Echo, that's 4 words...
You Yanks are just too paranoid.
You should live in smaller towns. The neighbours tell you what you are going to do BEFORE you do it... :angel:

I'm wondering if the Administrator that took the pictures is now working with Homeland Security...

Edited September 21, 2011 by anwiii (see edit history)

[Quatrux 4]

This is really terrible, but seems that privacy Today isn't so important, even most of the laws protect your privacy.. But..I am sometimes also paranoid, that someone might be watching at me through that camera on my laptop, but it's quite ridiculous..But who knows? Is there any way to check if somebody is connecting remotely and is using the laptop microphone or video camera? and maybe even a possibility to block? :PI just am thinking, sometimes you can install something on a friends computer and lets say connect to it without him knowing, use the camera and microphone, I guess it's possible?So when buying a new laptop, I guess it's best to format it and install the OS again, but it's quite paranoid :DNot a lot of people worry about their privacy, just look at facebook or similar internet services, everyone is showing everything they do.. by using google you can find out a lot about the person. :angel:

[The Simpleton 2]

This really makes no sense at all - no school is so serious to have a need to spy on their students in this manner. All differences should be forgotten once the students leave the school compound. If the kids used the laptops without connecting to the internet they would have been safe, right? So the school might have given them some work to do over the net, using the laptop. That's a neat trick. I didn't have the patience to read the whole of the article given above, but this is really really insane and I hope the school gets sued big time.

[Zagubadu? 0]

Oh my god! I sort of want to hear more about this. I would take them to court. What type of inappropriate behavior are they talking about? If its what I'm thinking about right now :angel: Then that's so ridiculous. Just checked it up and it appears that their is two sides to this. The principal of the school admits that they had the software to do such. But only used it in the school. They say the student must of taken a picture of himself doing the "inappropriate" behavior ( Which I heard was something like popping pills or something ) and then they accessed it from his HD which would totally be okay. I mean still having this software was a stupid idea and I agree that they probably took the picture with the webcam and not the kid himself. WHY THE HELL WOULD HE TAKE A PICTURE OF HIMSELF DOING DRUGS? That would be so dumb. I think the parents sued.

[anwiii 17]

i can't believe any of you. people are so gullible to the news these days. the news just controls all your lives. if the news says something, it HAS to be true or we HAVE to just jump to more conclusions than what was stated publically. it's a shame that all i see are little robots conforming to the media and have forgotten the fact that you have a mind of your own. people CAN still read, can't they? i suggest reading and understanding the article before jumping to conclusions.what ever happened to INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY? where are the facts that support the child or family? what if in fact they didn't return the laptop when they were supposed to and the school had EVERY right to try to find out where it was?this is one thing i absolutely HATE about trap. it caters to children who can crucify without just cause. anyone watch the passion of the christ? GREAT movie. same thing. i think you all should stick to your game boys.

Edited September 21, 2011 by anwiii (see edit history)

[Spyda 0]

this is one thing i absolutely HATE about trap. it caters to children who can crucify without just cause

I really like how you begin by yelling at other members in this thread for making the generalization that this news article, and others alike, are 100% accurate, yet you do the same thing by saying that Trap caters to children who crucify without just cause. I'm definitely not a child and I really do not appreciate you calling me one either :angel: Edited February 27, 2010 by Spyda (see edit history)

[thejode 0]

OMG!!! I can't believe what I heard on the news tonight! This is unreal! A school in Pennsylvania sent home lap top computers with some of the kids. The computers had video cameras that could be activated remotely. The school principal activated one of the kids cameras while the boy was in the privacy of his own home, and took pictures, they claimed that they thought he "might be engaging in inappropriate behavior" and wanted to check up on him, they even confronted him with the pictures they had taken of him. What right does a school principle have to do something like this??? When did they get police powers?? The police can't even legally spy on you in your own home. What in the hell is wrong with these people?? I hope they arrest every single one of them that had anything even remotely to do with this disgusting rape of our privacy. Lock them away for a very long time!

This is why I hate having a webcam on my laptop. I cover it up with a post-it note, so if there's any spyware or other crap on my computer, they can't see what I'm doing. I know the chance is slim, but I prefer to have an external microphone and webcam instead of the built-in stuff you see on computers these days.

Even if they wanted to "check" on the kid, they could have just stuck a simple keylogger that would only report the stuff the kids did wrong to the principal. If I were one of the kids, if I learned that the computer was bugged, I'd rip the battery out. Just like that. No machinery can operate without power, and this is the simplest and most effective method of stopping creeps from spying.

Let's hope this isn't repeated......

[stevoboi 0]

Lol, this is really scary. I got a laptop from the college I attend, and just knowing that in the back of my mind someone could be watching me type this is freakin wierd.The guy to is accused of the invasion of privacy should be sued. For a LOT of money. I've heard about this before, but can't exatcly remember where from... Probably the news one evening but sounds familiaWith that being said, I'm going to have this computer looked at, lol.

[anwiii 17]

i yelled at other members? huh?!? yea, trap caters to little children i will bet my last penny on it. if your not a child and i called you one, i will be sure not to mention your name next time. i didn't think i did, but it seem you would know... winkin' right back at ya!

I really like how you begin by yelling at other members in this thread for making the generalization that this news article, and others alike, are 100% accurate, yet you do the same thing by saying that Trap caters to children who crucify without just cause. I'm definitely not a child and I really do not appreciate you calling me one either :angel:

Edited September 21, 2011 by anwiii (see edit history)