High school spys on students with web cams

[rthompson80819]

This is one of the most over the top stories I've ever read.  A high school issues students laptops with web cams and uses the web cams to spy on students at school and at home.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+boingboing/iBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

[Helpmeh]

None of the school computers have webcams here.

[evilfantasy]

"improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.

If they snapped an image of the kid even partially naked heads should roll for this. Even if not the school district needs to restructures it's administration beginning with firing anyone who was aware of this going on.

[rthompson80819]

A vice principal was involved in this, so you know this was widespread in the administration.  Just firing people for this isn't enough, there should be some jail time involved.

[rthompson80819]

Another article about this.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011123347_laptopspy19.html

[EEVIAC]

oh my 

If stuff like this is happening and is known, just think of the other crap that may have been going on secretly..

There's almost nothing I hate more than a bureaucracy, or a faceless group of people who sit around a table all day long scratching each others' backs, and making off-the-wall decisions...

I've never been a voter until recently and I'm happy to say that I will be voting in many up-coming elections...  I've got my voter reg. card and everything 

[kpac]

What has the school got to do with what's going on at home?

[CBMatt]

I'm moving this to the News section.  Very interesting, by the way...and terribly creepy.

[James1431997]

That's sick (no not good sick or whatever, bad sick).
Whilst what I could read about it, it was a good idea used improperly. Stolen laptops would cost a fortune, and the idea of the monitoring technology was that IF the laptop was stolen, it could be traced, and an image would be taken of the person using it. That should have been the only time it was used.

there should be some jail time involved.

Agreed. I don't know about the US, but that would certainly be against the law in the UK, and at least result in serious disciplinary action. There was this case of this Nursery worker who took inappropriate pictures of children, and she went to jail. At the very least they should be denied jobs dealing with children AND in any position of trust. There hypocrites really. They most likely lecture their students about being safe on the internet, when they themselves are one of the most severe threats, if they use the technology like that. Luckily, the laptops provided by my school, have no webcams or in built microphones. They claim it's to "ensure our safety." I think it's cost cutting. Everyone else really has their own PC in their room.

[Juice217]

omg, my school gave laptops to students..... i wonder...

[Helpmeh]

omg, my school gave laptops to students..... i wonder...

My Dell Latitude D520 and the Dell Latutude E5400s don't have built in webcams...but they do have deepfreeze, and every night it shutsdown and goes into "maintenance mode"...I always try to shut down the computer before it auto-shuts down, because I have a suspision that the board is snooping around my personal files while they're supposed to be updating the antivirus signatures (which is out of date, even though it went into maintenance mode for updating last night).

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I stick a post-it on my webcam when on my laptop at home. Paranoia?

[evilfantasy]

I stick a post-it on my webcam when on my laptop at home. Paranoia?

I put my webcam behind either the monitor or laptop screen. No chances taken.

[Helpmeh]

I put my webcam behind either the monitor or laptop screen. No chances taken.

I put it in a shoebox when I'm changing...

[EEVIAC]

What has the school got to do with what's going on at home?

obviously, nothing kpac





I was merely pointing out that I will contribute to making changes anywhere I find it possible..

[kpac]

That wasn't actually aimed at you.
I was just putting out the question.

[EEVIAC]

That wasn't actually aimed at you.
I was just putting out the question.

           sorry

[Computer Hope Admin]

What has the school got to do with what's going on at home?

Not defending this by any means because it's way uncalled for. However, from what I heard on the news about this story is that they were doing this as a means of detecting where a laptop was in the event that it was lost.

[evilfantasy]

It hasn't been publicly said but I think the kid was having personal time with a p0rn site. If that's the image they snapped then they committed a felony. By law you can not knowingly save an image, video or whatever of a *censored* minor without being in the act of committing a crime. Some states dictate that you can't even view it accidentally without being held accountable.

If your take home computer is rigged with surveillance software they should have been made aware of it.

[James1431997]

Not defending this by any means because it's way uncalled for. However, from what I heard on the news about this story is that they were doing this as a means of detecting where a laptop was in the event that it was lost.

Yeah. It was. That's perfectly fair. They're trying to protect their property. I wouldn't mind my school doing that with IT property lent out. What isn't fair, (or legal, I imagine) is the use which is has been put to by that school. It's clever, someone reports their laptop as stolen, the laptop takes a picture of the person using it, and sends it's IP address to the school. Theft and loss protection, plus a deterrent. But, it's old news school trying to work out what there pupils are up too. My school recommends all students install a "Internet Safety Suite" provided by them on every computer they connect to the internet on. AVG flagged it as a keylogger. It's seeming only other purpose is to block pretty much everything that's a flash file or an image. Badly.

[evilfantasy]

If it was a safety tool for recovering stolen property it should only be activated in the event of a theft. Anything more is abuse.

[James1431997]

If it was a safety tool for recovering stolen property it should only be activated in the event of a theft. Anything more is abuse.

Sorry. That's what I meant 

[BC_Programmer]

if you guys think that's outrageous, did you know my local grocery store is charging more for red Onions as opposed to white or yellow? It's MADNESS I tell you! MADNESS!

[James1431997]

if you guys think that's outrageous, did you know my local grocery store is charging more for red Onions as opposed to white or yellow? It's MADNESS I tell you! MADNESS!

Right. I didn't know there were yellow onions.

[patio]

There's alot of them...and their out there.

[BC_Programmer]

There's alot of them...and their out there.

I saw a blue onion once. Well, I thought it was a blue onion, it later turned out to be a Apple. And it wasn't even blue. I was probably on a trip though.

Anyway, to add something on-topic, personally <I> have trouble using my own webcam. half the time I find the drivers don't work, and then I have to go searching for some badly named function somewhere that let's me see what I already know is in front of my webcam, because my memory is so short I forget what happened within the 2 ms or so lag time of the camera itself.

The sad part is I'm half serious. I used the webcam on my laptop once, and I reinstalled since then. I might not even have the driver installed for it.

[James1431997]

Anyway, to add something on-topic, personally <I> have trouble using my own webcam. half the time I find the drivers don't work, and then I have to go searching for some badly named function somewhere that let's me see what I already know is in front of my webcam, because my memory is so short I forget what happened within the 2 ms or so lag time of the camera itself.

The sad part is I'm half serious. I used the webcam on my laptop once, and I reinstalled since then. I might not even have the driver installed for it.

Well, you won't be in danger of someone spying on you then.
I on the one hand wanted to use my webcam. It is SOO hard to find drivers for a 5 year old piece of Logitech crap. Windows 7 compatible... that is.

[BC_Programmer]

Well, you won't be in danger of someone spying on you then.

darn.

And I just sang the Onion song! Well that was a bigger waste of talent then that "rock" who played that piece of igneous on that one episode of star trek. I had posters for "the star trek rock" all over. Then I learned he wasn't a rock at all, but a piece of shaped foam. And that was the last I ever saw of my father.

On a completely unrelated note, the pink bear wearing a tutu is telling me I should probably get some sleep soon. Or else there will be dire consequences such as being forced to drink carbonated soft drinks really really fast so the carbonation has a momentary but extremely painful burning effect on my esophagus.

[rthompson80819]

eSarcasm has obtained shots taken by the student Web cams. After hours of careful study, we can confirm the affluent school district is under siege by a ring of nubile notebook nabbers, all of them young women between the ages of 14 and 17, including a disproportionate number of cheerleaders and prom queens

[evilfantasy]

The National Media has picked up on this.

Two things I took from the report were:

1) The computers are issued to all of the students (affluent neighborhood) and they are all Macs!
- I wonder if Apple helped them "rig" the computers with spyware and can be held in-part liable?

2) There was not one mention of the image that was shown to the student as described in the web article.
- Is the picture sensationalism or did the sensational seeking media just leave that part out?

I report. You decide!! lol 

[patio]

Excellent point.
It has been a slow news week overall...

[James1431997]

1) The computers are issued to all of the students (affluent neighborhood) and they are all Macs!
- I wonder if Apple helped them "rig" the computers with spyware and can be held in-part liable?

I think Apple's position would be fine. If they did help, they would be perfectly within the law, as the INTENDED use was fine. Locating lost or stolen property.
Those misusing the technology, as the article said, would not, and deserve a jail scentence and being refused the right to work in ANY JOB with under - 18s or in a position of trust. I mean it happened in the UK. Nursery Worker taking pictures of kids. She went to jail, and she's like public enemy number one now.

On a completely unrelated note

Any of this was related?
Are you sure you haven't mixed your onions up with say, Mushrooms?

[CBMatt]

2) There was not one mention of the image that was shown to the student as described in the web article.
- Is the picture sensationalism or did the sensational seeking media just leave that part out?

Although I don't support the school's tactics at all, part of me wonders if the picture in question was taken because the laptop was reported stolen (this would certainly help the school's case).  After all, they're not saying what was going on in the picture, so we have no idea what happened.  Everyone going on about *censored* pictures is just getting carried away with their fantasies.

[rthompson80819]

From CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/laptop.suit/index.html?hpt=Sbin

After this came to light the school issued a statement and at no point did they say the laptop was reported stolen.  Out of 3,000 students, I have a hard time believing one boy was the only one spied upon.

[Brad7]

Unbelievable story! I don't think it requires much imagination to figure out what the boy was probably "doing" when the picture was snapped. I find it simply amazing that it would be labeled "inappropriate behavior" when there isn't a High School age boy anywhere in the world engaging in that behavior probably on a nearly daily basis. That someone would activate a remote cam on kids this age after hours and KNOWING that fact to me is simply mind boggling and worthy of criminal charges. Attempted procurement of child pornography would be a good start.

[evilfantasy]

Kim Komando did a segment on this over the weekend. She said creepy doesn't even begin to describe what happened.

Still no mention of the photo though.

[evilfantasy]

>>>FBI will investigate Pa. school district webcam spying<<<

The FBI has said it will be checking to see if any federal wiretapping or computer-related laws were broken by a Pennsylvania school district in connection with an incident in which someone turned on the webcam in a school-issued computer and spied on a student in his own home.

The incident occurred in Lower Merion School District, located in Montgomery County near Philadelphia. The county district attorney also is investigating.

Last week, a student filed suit in federal court after facing disciplinary action as a result of information collected from the web cam on his school-issued Apple laptop. In the complaint, he alleges that school officials confronted him with a photograph of him engaging in “improper behavior” that was taken in his home.

The school had installed the webcam spyware on the 2,300 laptops issued to high school students in order to help find the machines if they were lost or stolen. Only two employees were authorized to activate the cameras.

Preserving privacy gets tougher and tougher as technology develops. Perfectly legitimate information systems are full of personal information or access to it -- such as this case -- and search technology it is getting better and better. It just makes it too easy for employees to snoop or officials to misuse the systems. Guarding privacy is a serious job involving licensing agreements, procedures for employees who access data, intrusion prevention and hopefully encryption.

This story is about a serious insider threat. Only two people were supposed to have access to the technology to turn on the web cams and it was only to be used only to find lost or stolen machines. Instead, according to the suit, the system was used by someone for some kind of enforcement action that wasn't spelled out to the students and their families in advance.

The result is a FEDERAL criminal investigation and a FEDERAL lawsuit in addition to a possible action in county court. That is tremendously damaging to the school district’s reputation, is probably going to cost the district a load of money and is probably going to cost some people their jobs.

It’s easy to get paranoid about the cameras and government monitoring systems that seem to expand with each year. About five years ago a security researcher I knew began saying: “there's no privacy. Get over it.”

I had hoped he was just being pessimistic. I’m not too sure any more.

Oh yea, for the other 2,299 students in the Lower Marion School District: a piece of duct tape over the web cam in your school computer is a good lo-tech remediation.

Story here: “F.B.I. Queries Webcam Use by Schools” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/us/21spy.html?hpw

Tom Kelchner

Now it's getting interesting. 

[CBMatt]

I wonder if getting sued by the money-hungry parents is going to cause the school to take back all of the laptops.  Heh.

[rthompson80819]

It’s easy to get paranoid about the cameras and government monitoring systems that seem to expand with each year. About five years ago a security researcher I knew began saying: “there's no privacy. Get over it.”

Most people are getting used to traffic cameras, ATM cameras, etc., but nobody expects a camera in their bedroom, and they never should.

[rthompson80819]

From PC World.

In the lawsuit, Robbins claims that an assistant principal at Harriton High School used photos from his laptop's Web cam to accuse him of "improper behavior." He later told an ABC News affiliate that the school mistook a pill-shaped Mike & Ike candy for drugs.

[BC_Programmer]

Since when did schools get authority over children when they aren't in school anyway?

[Helpmeh]

Since when did schools get authority over children when they aren't in school anyway?

It's not the children the school has authority over, it's the laptops.

[BC_Programmer]

It's not the children the school has authority over, it's the laptops.

That doesn't really explain any of this; unless, as was stated before, this laptop had been reported stolen. however, if that was the case then it would be safe to assume that any disciplinary action that is taken would be against the person who stole it, not against the person they lent the laptop to for (among other things) having candy that looks like drugs.

[Helpmeh]

That doesn't really explain any of this; unless, as was stated before, this laptop had been reported stolen. however, if that was the case then it would be safe to assume that any disciplinary action that is taken would be against the person who stole it, not against the person they lent the laptop to for (among other things) having candy that looks like drugs.

I was just saying that they have authority over the laptops, but that doesn't mean planting spyware/invisibly running some webcam program and god knows what on the laptops without the students knowing should be allowed.

[James1431997]

Since when did schools get authority over children when they aren't in school anyway?

Well. My school will punish you if you are caught doing anything in uniform.

[BC_Programmer]

Well. My school will punish you if you are caught doing anything in uniform.

your school also has uniforms, which IMO is a *censored* to begin with.

[James1431997]

your school also has uniforms, which IMO is a *censored* to begin with.

There, I would agree with you.
UK private schools = ftl.