Boingboing.net is carrying a story on how a Pennsylvania school used school laptops to monitor students at school and at home.
According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools’ administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins’s child was disciplined for “improper behavior in his home” and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.
What an imbecile. Ruling after ruling in US courts have shown that schools cannot and should not try to control what students do outside of school, and here’s a vice-principal overstepping boundaries.
Disciplined for “improper behavior in his home?” How about letting parents deal with that?
Also, what if the kid had been naked in front of the laptop? You know, takes a shower and afterwards is in the privacy of the student’s room?
I can totally see how some creep in the future (maybe even now) using the same technology would use it for peeping-tom activities. Then all hell will break loose.
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