Real World Event Discussions

School used laptop webcams to spy on kids at home

POSTED BY: piratenews
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 12, 2010 09:49
VIEWED: 9642
PAGE 6 of 8

NIKI2

Monday, March 1, 2010 7:43 PM

Not distracting me; I felt like the topic had been covered rather well, so when it degenerated, I joined out of boredom. Not much of today's topics to respond to, that's all...

But it's not interesting long enough to keep it up, I'll leave that to Chris and Mike, they seem to get more enjoyment from it.

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

KWICKO

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 12:09 AM

True, Niki - Chris and I *DO* enjoy poking the monkey in his cage now and again.

Plus there's the added benefit - which I know "Hero" doesn't like - that it keeps this thread near the top of the page, and keeps it "active", which is nice, because this is a subject near and dear to Frem's heart, so it's right here handy when he's got more/newer info to share on this story. :)

That it needles "Hero" is just an added bonus.

"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero, Real World Event Discussions

FREMDFIRMA

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 4:02 AM

T-shirts, get yer T-shirts here...
http://www.zazzle.com/lower_merion_school_district_scandal_parody_tshi
rt-235568003500926676

Of COURSE *that* was coming, we're workin on a better one with a local provider, too.

-F

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 4:28 AM

The HAL9000 lens is a nice touch.

HERO

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 1:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
You say you want to discuss issues, and every time I try to bring up actual issues and nail you down on them, you run away on "vacation" yet again.

Took time off from playing in this sandbox to go put a child molester in jail. Big trials are a lot of work...but they do pay me, so its all good (not to mention the bonus/fringe benefit of putting the child molester in jail, I'd do that for free).

A jury said I was right, kinda like they do almost every time. You guys could learn a lot from them. My suggestion, start a topic, discuss it to your heart's content, then I'll come in and let you know the correct answer and then we can all agree that I'm right and move on without all the animosity...that seems fair.

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.

HERO

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 1:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Yup, he's playing us, trying to distract us from the issue at hand and getting a good laugh over how easy it is.

In this case you are mostly correct. I'm playing you, you guys are easy, its a good laugh, and I'm still right and deep down you all still know it.

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.

KWICKO

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 6:29 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hero:
Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
You say you want to discuss issues, and every time I try to bring up actual issues and nail you down on them, you run away on "vacation" yet again.

Took time off from playing in this sandbox to go put a child molester in jail. Big trials are a lot of work...but they do pay me, so its all good (not to mention the bonus/fringe benefit of putting the child molester in jail, I'd do that for free).

A jury said I was right, kinda like they do almost every time. You guys could learn a lot from them. My suggestion, start a topic, discuss it to your heart's content, then I'll come in and let you know the correct answer and then we can all agree that I'm right and move on without all the animosity...that seems fair.

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.

So every time you duck out of a conversation, you can now chalk it up to "a big trial"... That's handy. Was Out2Lunch in on your big trial? He seems to have gone AWOL lately, too. ;)

Mostly, "Hero", you're like a hemorrhoid; you're a pain in the ass, sure, but when you're not around, nobody much notices, complains or misses you. And in that, YOU clearly know that *I* am in the right.

By the way, how long did you put Rappy away for?

"I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero, Real World Event Discussions

HERO

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 6:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
So every time you duck out of a conversation, you can now chalk it up to "a big trial"... That's handy. Was Out2Lunch in on your big trial? He seems to have gone AWOL lately, too. ;)

Like most people with jobs I work, have paid vacation, and paid sick days. In fact I was away from this site approximately 2.5 weeks. That included a week of trial, a week of vacation (I always take President's Day week off cause the others in the office don't compete for it like they do the major holidays), and I had two sick days from a bad cold.

Normally I can get on from home but my computer needed service and Geek Squad was very slow.

So, paid holiday, paid vacation, paid sick leave, and jailing a bad guy. All perks of my job.

H

"Hero. I have come to respect you." "I am forced to agree with Hero here."- Chrisisall, 2009.

NIKI2

Friday, March 12, 2010 8:24 PM

Remember this one? Looks like it's on its way to being settled:

Quote:
A suburban Philadelphia family's webcam-spying lawsuit against a high school could be heading for a settlement.

Lawyers for Lower Merion School District and the family of 15-year-old Blake Robbins agreed to a one-month delay in the case while experts determine how many times employees activated cameras on school-issued laptops.

According to an order signed by a judge Wednesday, both parties hope the information will lead to "an expeditious and cost-effective resolution."

Robbins and his parents sued last month, accusing school officials of photographing him in his bedroom. He says an administrator said school officials suspected him of selling drugs because of webcam photos.

The district claims it activated the cameras only to locate missing laptops.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/TheLaw/wireStory?id=10070533

"only to locate missing laptops"

riiiight!

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

FREMDFIRMA

Saturday, March 13, 2010 12:17 AM

Oh it's more twisted than that, see, when the software was "activated", which they NOW claim was because the boy supposedly took the laptop home without paying some kind of hefty "insurance" bribe - and likely untrue, given that the school district has lied about everything else top-to-bottom, and DID accuse him of outright theft, then said it was a mistake, and THEN came up with that insurance fee bullshit story - the software didn't just track the laptop, oh no, it went far deeper than that.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10465117-238.html

Once activated, it would snap a picture every couple of minutes and forward it to a special site set up for the Lower Merion Police Dept, which while supposedly secure - then begs the question of if they were the ONLY ones with access to it, how the administrator and the IT guys they placed on leave wound up with both the images and, according to the administrator, a log of the keystrokes, neh ?

That ALSO implicates the Lower Merion PD as complicit, and opens a whole second can of worms as to what legal liabilities exist there.

Then there's the lies, oh the lies, and the administrator using the PA system to make defamatory statements...

And finally, the software itself - the school had a certain responsibility to be honest about this sorta thing if they were gonna do it, and not only were they NOT honest about it, the software itself was set up to delete the evidence and "cover it's own tracks" - not JUST on the supposedly stolen laptop, but on both that end AND at the server, and yanno I'd really like someone to try explaining THAT in light of the "only X amount of times" comment, what *reason* would they have to delete the evidence of tracking a stolen laptop off their own server unless that wasn't the purpose in the first place ?

And yes, they were using LANRev 4.6 and a VPN setup so the IT folk had more than JUST access to the webcam, although that part was script-automated - but on top of all the rest of this mess, being that they gave it root access and how they set it up...

A moderately competent STUDENT could, with a second laptop, forge their own access and spy on the other students just as easily as the IT guys, complete with access to both webcam and mic, since the asshats who installed it and set it up didn't properly secure it - despite not only taking great pains to make it obfuscate itself and obviously being technically competent enough to have done so.

So yeah, it's a total fiasco.

I just haven't been commenting cause I am not sure of the point of debating civil rights with folk who think they can pick and choose who gets em and how to use em.

-F