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FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 9:15:13 PM

jlf1961

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quote:

PHILADELPHIA – The FBI is investigating a Pennsylvania school district accused of secretly activating webcams inside students' homes, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Friday.

The FBI will explore whether Lower Merion School District officials broke any federal wiretap or computer-intrusion laws, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the investigation.

Read this and thought of pahunkboy.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 9:58:32 PM

tazzygirl

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Lower Merion, an affluent district in Philadelphia's suburbs, issues Apple laptops to all 2,300 students at its two high schools. Only two employees in the technology department were authorized to activate the cameras — and only to locate missing laptops, Young said. The remote activations captured images but never recorded sound, he said.

Let the brats get their own laptops.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:02:10 PM

pahunkboy

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supposedly this was to find stolen laptops.

Note- the FCC now redid the airwaves for digital tv.

where- rfids and antenaes will be able to track what have you.

--the one thing is the top brass wants to sell you a service- so- they will try to sell services on this first.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:04:11 PM

tazzygirl

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They are school property... not given... but issued. If i were issuing a bunch of kids laptops, i sure would have a way to track them.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:08:06 PM

thishereboi

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quote:

ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

They are school property... not given... but issued. If i were issuing a bunch of kids laptops, i sure would have a way to track them.

They could put a gps tracker in it.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:18:21 PM

pahunkboy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

They are school property... not given... but issued. If i were issuing a bunch of kids laptops, i sure would have a way to track them.

LOL- their gym shoes cost more then the lap tops.

http://getmoneyonlineguide.blogspot.com/2010/02/have-you-heard-of-59-computer.html

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:21:04 PM

AnimusRex

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Honestly, I read this on BoingBoing, and it is pretty freaky scary. They could turn on the webcams remotely, without the kids knowing.

What is the most disturbing- and there's plenty to get disturbed about- is how stealthily this is becoming accepted, even embraced and mainstreamed, this logic.

When Orwell wrote 1984 people thought stuff like this was laugably absurd.

Cross referencing my post on the guns thread, while we are noisily defending the 2nd amendment, the 4th and 5th are being stolen right under our noses.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:22:59 PM

jlf1961

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Personally, if it is an "affluent" school district, the parents should be buying the laptops, and there really should be no way to turn on a webcam by remote if they issue the bloody things.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/19/2010 10:25:16 PM

pahunkboy

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most people tho- the bugging of would be incredibly boring.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/20/2010 2:28:26 AM

rulemylife

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quote:

ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

They are school property... not given... but issued. If i were issuing a bunch of kids laptops, i sure would have a way to track them.

That's not what the suit is about, tracking a school's property does not give them the right to invade a student's privacy outside of the school:

According to the suit, Harriton vice principal Lindy Matsko told Blake on Nov. 11 that the school thought he was "engaged in improper behavior in his home."

She allegedly cited as evidence a photograph "embedded" in his school-issued laptop.

The suit does not say if the boy's laptop had been reported stolen, and Young said the litigation prevents him from disclosing that fact.

He said the district never violated its policy of only using the remote-activation software to find missing laptops. "Infer what you want," Young said.

The suit accuses the school of turning on Blake's webcam while the computer was inside his Penn Valley home, allegedly violating wiretap laws and his right to privacy.

Blake Robbins told KYW-TV on Friday that a school official described him in his room and mistook a piece of candy for a pill.

"She described what I was doing," he said. "She said she thought I had pills and said she thought that I was selling drugs."

Robbins said he was holding a Mike and Ike candy, not pills.

Holly Robbins said a school official told her that she had a picture of Blake holding up what she thought were pills.

"It was an invasion of privacy; it was like we had a Peeping Tom in our house," Holly Robbins told WPVI-TV. "I send my son to school to learn, not to be spied on."

< Message edited by rulemylife -- 2/20/2010 2:31:50 AM >

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/20/2010 2:41:28 AM

pahunkboy

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...suppose tho that copywrited material was being uploaded and downloaded.

there could have been a lawsuit.

or maybe the user went to inappropriate websites- that might void the grant money.

these days- tho- cell phones can cost more then laptops.

I can see the axe murder movies now. a teen age girl- pajama party- caught on cam- including the shower sceen.

or even worse- they might have visited Alexes website.

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/20/2010 7:38:08 AM

DarkSteven

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quote:

ORIGINAL: rulemylife

He said the district never violated its policy of only using the remote-activation software to find missing laptops. "Infer what you want," Young said.

Sorta conflicts with the story that they reported him for suspected drug use then.

What school in their right mind would let students have laptops anyway? Kids roughhouse, forget things, etc. Their lives aren't a good match for electronics.

The kids were required to get the laptops and not told they were being spied upon. A forced unwitting surveillance program. As boi pointed out, a GPS could have done the job as well. Better, and legally.

If this is such an affluent district, why do they put up with unethical, lawbreaking idiots for school administrators?

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RE: FBI probing Pa. school webcam spy case - 2/20/2010 9:30:24 AM

Musicmystery

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Same reason they put up with the Patriot Act. People talk themselves into all sorts of weird shit.

But yes, they should have been told, and yes, it was a stupid way to track the machines. Probably they didn't want the features disabled. Still stupid.

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