Feds: No charges in Pa. school laptop-spying case

[onehandle]

Source: AP

PHILADELPHIA – No criminal charges will be filed against a suburban Philadelphia school district that secretly snapped tens of thousands of webcam photographs and screen shots on laptops issued to students. The FBI and federal prosecutors announced Tuesday they could not prove any criminal wrongdoing by Lower Merion School District employees.

"We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent," U.S. Attorney Zane D. Memeger said in a statement. The FBI investigated the wealthy district for possible wiretap violations after a student's civil lawsuit exposed the issue. Lower Merion High School student Blake Robbins alleged the district photographed him 400 times in a 15-day period last fall, sometimes as he slept in his bedroom or was half-dressed.

District officials said its technology staff only activated the remote tracking system to try to find laptops that had been reported lost or stolen. But the district soon acknowledged that the software system sometimes remained activated for weeks or months, even after a laptop was found — causing the district to capture 56,000 webcam photographs and screen shots from student laptops.

"We are very pleased with today's decision by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which supports the findings of our internal investigation," Superintendent Christopher W. McGinley said. "This is all good news for the students and staff of Lower Merion School District as we prepare for the start of a new school year."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100817/ap_on_hi_te/us_laptops_spying_on_students_3

[FBaggins]

1. Which does little to the class-action civil suit. n/t

[Warpy]

7. They'll have to prove actual damages

and having failed to prove either criminal negligence or distribution of any of the photos, they're going to have an uphill battle.

This was always more about the potential for abuse than for actual abuse.

Parents, of course, are jerking their knees in unison and this will probably drive the Mosque story off the front page for a while.

[stuart68]

2. Bulls$$t

[Sherman A1]

3. The level of stupid in this decision is

hard to comprehend.

[rug]

4. Quick! Tie down PCIntern.

[jberryhill]

6. LOL... you bad

I thought you were going to publish the secret pictures from his laptop camera upon reading this thread.

[24601]

8. Maybe those erotic pics & videos are the wikileaks insurance file n/t

[Downwinder]

5. I take this to mean there is no Corporate person that they can

extort money from. I look for the same result on Arpaio in Arizona. A fine would just put the fault on the taxpayers. There's no justice in that. The victims would end up footing part of the bill.

[lostnfound]

9. I wonder if this was someone's half-dressed daughter would they outcome be different?

On second thought, probably not, in this new society that tolerates full-body scanners at the airports. And children are generally considered to have no right to privacy by the omniscient schools. Count me disgusted.

[superconnected]

10. I see Orwells Telescreens are legal now.

And I'm disgusted by it. I would pull my kid out of that school district. I consider this to be a major invasion of privacy.

If they photographed teens undressed isn't that regarded as porn now a days.

[Downwinder]

11. Wonder if Google's street view vans picked any of the images. n/t

[alp227]

12. Wow what the hell is wrong with American justice?

Tom DeLay: Charges dropped.
PATRIOT Act violations (including this one): Charges dropped.
Guantanamo Bay torture and abuses: No investigations yet.
Bush war crime gang: No charges yet.
Bill Clinton's affair with Monica: Way beyond a personal issue into the dominant political issue of the late 1990s.
Rod Blagojevich: Tens of millions blown only to result in a conviction of 1 of 24 counts...simply lying to the FBI.

What the hell is this?

[superconnected]

13. After more thought on this issue, I think every one who had a laptop with that software should sue

for mental anguish. It is not legal for people to install cameras in other people's houses and the lawsuits when hidden cameras have been found have been successful. This causes a terrible paranoia and mental anguish because these people have found they are not safe to be naked in their own bedrooms where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The school system did not disclose that they were sending spy cameras into these peoples homes when they loaned them the laptops. I think EVERY single person who had the camera and surveillance software turned on, on the laptop should be able to sue for the invasion of their privacy and I hope to see that they do sue, because this is WAY NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Since these are teens, I think porn suits also needs to be brought into the deal because they are underage and having pictures taken of them in undressed states.

[crim son]

14. Hmmm. From what I read here

when the issue first arose, and I wasn't ready to pronounce judgement, this verdict isn't possible. I wonder what went wrong.

[superconnected]

15. The ACLU really needs to get on this on.