Web cam report blasts Lower Merion school district

[maddezmom]

Web cam report blasts Lower Merion school district
By John P. Martin and Dan Hardy

Inconsistent policies. Shoddy record-keeping. Misstep after misstep. "Overzealous" use of technology "without any apparent regard for privacy considerations."

Those were the conclusions a team of lawyers and computer experts reached after a 10-week investigation into how, when, and why the Lower Merion School District turned on the Web cams and software that secretly snapped thousands of photos and screen shots from student's laptop computers.

~snip¬
But because employees frequently failed to turn off the tracking system, more than 50,000 of those images were taken after the computers had been recovered and given back to students.

Many were photos of students, their friends, or families, in their homes or elsewhere, the report said.

more:http://www.philly.com/inquirer/education/20100504_Web_cam_report_blasts_Lower_Merion_school_district.html

Report: No spying in Pa. school laptops case

PHILADELPHIA — A report commissioned by a suburban Philadelphia school district says there's no evidence of spying on students through an electronic laptop tracking program.

The independent report indicates concerns about an online chat captured on the screen of a school-issued computer led to disclosure of the Lower Merion School District's tracking program. It cites "overzealous and questionable use of technology ... without any apparent regard for privacy considerations."

The family of one student alleged privacy violations over webcam images taken at home and sued.

The school district says it secretly activated webcams only to find missing laptops. It acknowledges lax policies led it to capture 58,000 images.

more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdwlE3DpcMD9gNAnFMrQ7iNHCS6AD9FFO9Q01

[Rex]

1. It secretly activated webcams, but just to find the evil doers.

Wow, I'd say the superintendent has some explaining to do!

[Warren DeMontague]

3. But that kid might have been doing Teh DRUGZZ! Teh DRUGZZZ! DRRRUGGGZZzzzz!!!!

I mean, surely piddling 'privacy concerns' must fall by the wayside when there is a whiff of a hint of an allegation that someone, somewhere, might be doing


TEH DRUGZZZZZZZZZZ!!!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4IqAMwAGn1w/SEmR-fY-iPI/AAAAAAAADaY/mxSdRfkLhaA/s400/FREAKING+OUT.gif

[Quantess]

16. As I recall, one of the boys in the case was accused of taking drugs

because the webcam snapped images of him eating Good&Plenty candies.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Mike and Ike's, man. It's a slippery slope.

Before you know it, they're mainlining ju-ju-bees.

[sendero]

27. Gateway drug ..

.. and all.

[Rex]

17. Look, if we let the kids do 'the drugs' it will lead to chronic masturbation

which of course always leads to serial killing and then hmmm baby seal slaughter. Just say no!

[MicaelS]

2. I read the report

Looks like the distric will probably throw the IT people (Caiferio and Perblix) under the bus.

[rbixby]

5. Well, the IT people are probably guilty as well

I just hope they follow this up as high as it goes. "Just following orders" doesn't exempt one from morality.

[msanthrope]

9. But Cafierio is doing her level best to do the same to the district....

"I tried to get the administration to look closely and get a policy on several occasions," Cafiero said in her first interview since the district put her on paid leave. "There was only so much I can do. They did nothing. It fell on deaf ears."

The last time she tried, Cafiero said, was after a technician told her in November that he had activated a student's laptop Web cam even though the computer was not missing.

According to Cafiero, the technician said a Lower Merion High School teacher had pressed him to turn on the camera based on a suspicion that the student was goofing off in class.

Cafiero said she told the technician his job "was not to spy on students" and reminded him that they were to activate the tracking system only for lost or stolen laptops.

She said she brought that incident up on Nov. 10 during a meeting on the laptop initiative with administrators from both district high schools and her boss, George Frazier, director of information systems.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/20100430_School_official_says_Lower_Merion_lacked_laptop_policy.html?viewAll=y

[MicaelS]

10. That technician HAD to be Perblix....

It has been repeatedly stated that only two people, Cafiero and Perblix, were the ones "authorized" to turn the tracking system on and off. Unless of course, that's a lie, too.

[msanthrope]

12. Sounds like it....if not Perbix, then who? n/t

[PCIntern]

4. "No spying"...uh huh... "I love it!"

what do you call it when someone sees into someone else's private home in an unauthorized fashion? Watchful observance?

"independent report"...commissioned and paid for by whom?

Even they had to 'admit' that it was an outrageous use of technology. Wonder why some around here won't come around...

Oh yes:"found no proof" that there was spying...that's a whole long distance from "no evidence at all whatsoever" WHICH IS WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE WRITTEN IF THAT WERE TRUE.

[msanthrope]

7. Don't forget--they are missing about a week's work on the Robbin's computer. n/t

[msanthrope]

6. BTTT to add info--Kos post that lays it all out--the school district is screwed.--Link fixed

"Mrs. Robbins supposedly tried repeatedly to get school officials to give her some direct answers about why they were taking pictures of her son in his bedroom before filing the lawsuit as a last resort.

--Some of the pictures which the Daily News confirmed seeing included shots of the son, Blake, shirtless after getting out of the shower, pics of his father, pics of his friends, and screenshots of video chats and instant message conversations between Blake and third parties.

--The mother, Holly Robbins, thinks that pics of her daughter may have also been taken by the school--but can't be sure, since there's a weeks' worth of images that the district "hasn't been able to recover".

--The school district admitted that not telling the parents about the remote surveillance was "a colossal screwup" (their words)"

more at link...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/3/863299/-WebCamGate-Report-Released.-Conclusion-Theyre-screwed.

[woo me with science]

25. This new little story is just outrageous: "I suggest you take a breath and relax."

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100502_Student_foresaw_Web-cam_troubles.html

Student foresaw Web-cam troubles
By John P. Martin


In hindsight, the e-mail looks eerily prophetic.

A high school student sent it to the Lower Merion School District's top technology administrator in 2008, weeks before the district began handing out laptops to students.

The teenager had done his homework, researching the software the district planned to load on every machine. He discovered the system would allow employees to remotely monitor students' laptops, and called it "appalling" that the district hadn't told anyone.

"I could see not informing parents and students of this fact causing a huge uproar," said the student's e-mail, which The Inquirer has reviewed.

In her reply, information systems director Virginia DiMedio told the student not to worry.

"If we were going to monitor student use at home we would have stated so," her e-mail said. "Think about it - why would we do that? There is no purpose. We are not a police state."

DiMedio ended her reply: "I suggest you take a breath and relax."

.....

"I know I didn't do anything wrong," said DiMedio, who retired in June. "It's easy now to say, 'Why the hell didn't I think about privacy?' "


.

[hobbit709]

8. Well, well, well!

Are we surprised? NOT!

Power always has a tendency to corrupt.

[TexasObserver]

11. recommend

[Echo In Light]

13. Patriot Act, congress voted immunity for the telecoms, biometric ID cards coming, Big Bro = SAFETY

Yeah, nothing to be concerned about re these Orwellian surveillance shenanigans. A surveillance state is a SAFE state! Get the children in on it so they become acclimated to it...hell, they can make a game of it! Authority can be fully trusted not to abuse it

...which, it's incredibly fucking stupid for the people to have ever considered such systems wouldn't be abused when the abuse is the precise reason for right wingers seeking to implement such systems in the first place

[Quantess]

22. I love your propaganda posters!

I saw another one of yours in that locked thread earlier.

[Echo In Light]

23. Many of them are done by a group parodying PNAC; Project For An Old American Century

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/index.htm

Click on galleries

[Quantess]

28. Thanks!

[mzteris]

14. i still don't understand . .

why a freaking WEBCAM?

couldn't they have just used a GPS device or something similar???

[TorchTheWitch]

18. without the webcam how to you spy on people?

And how exactly does a webcam find the computer anyway? The only way it could is if the person using it and the room they're using it in is recognizable, and how likely is that? GPS actually DOES something to locate a stolen computer - a webcam doesn't. Everything the school did from using a spying device that doesn't actually DO anything to find a lost or stolen computer instead of a GPS system that does, to not running it by their legal reps, to keeping it secret from parents, teachers and students, to not having any policies and procedures in place as to its use says they just liked the ability to spy on people whenever they wanted and used theft tracking as an excuse as to why they had the ability and were using it.

[mzteris]

20. I guess that's my point

why/how did this even get floated as a "good idea", much less approved??

If you want to know WHERE it is, you have to be able to actually pinpoint the realtime location. Seeing a "picture" is pretty useless.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

15. Off topic but I wonder how they did it?

I think it would be neat to turn on my laptop camera remotely to see what my dogs are up to.




Of course spying is wrong no matter who does it.

[mzteris]

19. but you think it's be FINE to spy

on your DOGS, huh?

They have feelings, too! And rights to privacy! duh......


:rofl:

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[woo me with science]

26. Kick. nt