Weigh-in 3/8

170.

I feel a block... I've been hovering right above the 160s for months now. Sure, I've lost 30 lbs but I have 50 more to go. Part of my problem is that I've been slacking on logging my food and I haven't been exercising daily. I've let my schedule and dedication slide. I've gotten lax.

I also wonder if there's an emotional reason for not allowing myself to break through that 170 mark.

Weigh-in 03/01 172

172 No loss... no gain... from last week.

Students Spied On With School Issued Laptops - Child Pornography?

reprinted from: http://truthiscontagious.com/2010/02/18/students-spied-on-with-school-issued-laptops

Federal lawsuit brought against district for covertly monitoring students and families in their homes
by Steve Watson


A school district in Philadelphia faces a class action lawsuit after it allegedly issued laptop computers to 1,800 students across two high schools and then used concealed cameras within the machines to spy on students and their parents without their knowledge or consent.


Lower Merion School District in the suburbs of Philadelphia faces charges of invasion of privacy, theft of private information, and unlawful interception for providing computers with webcams that were remotely and covertly turned on by administrators.

The suit was brought on behalf of all the students and their parents after it was revealed that the computers had been used to monitor students both at school and at home.

The case, Blake J. Robbins v. Lower Merion School District (PDF), was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, February 16, 2010.

According to the filing, the actions of the school district were exposed when one of the school’s vice principals disciplined Mr Robbins’ son for “improper behavior in his home,” and used a photo taken from the computer camera as evidence.

“Michael Robbins thereafter verified, through Ms. Matsko, (an assistant principal) that the school district in fact has the ability to remotely activate the webcam contained in a student’s personal laptop computer issued by the school district at any time it chose and to view and capture whatever images were in front of the webcam, all without the knowledge, permission or authorization of any persons then and there using the laptop computer.” the complaint states.

“Additionally, by virtue of the fact that the webcam can be remotely activated at any time by the school district, the webcam will capture anything happening in the room in which the laptop computer is located, regardless of whether the student is sitting at the computer and using it.” it continues.

Nowhere in any “written documentation accompanying the laptop,” or in any “documentation appearing on any Web site or handed out to students or parents concerning the use of the laptop,” was any reference made “to the fact that the school district has the ability to remotely activate the embedded webcam at any time the school district wished to intercept images from that webcam of anyone or anything appearing in front of the camera,” the complaint also states.


The computers were provided via an initiative funded by state and federal grants to the students at Harriton High School in Rosemont, PA and Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, PA.

According to comments by the district’s Superintendent, Christopher McGinley, the initiative “enhances opportunities for ongoing collaboration, and ensures that all students have 24/7 access to school based resources and the ability to seamlessly work on projects and research at school and at home.”
What McGinley failed to add was that it also provided the school with 24/7 access to the students and their families.

The plaintiffs also note in their complaint that “the laptops at issue were routinely used by students and family members while at home,” and that “many of the images captured and intercepted may consist of images of minors and their parents or friends in compromising or embarrassing positions, including, but not limited to, in various stage of dress or undress.”

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in respect of not only a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, but also a host of other federal and state privacy laws, including the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, the Computer Fraud Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, and Pennsylvania common law.

This is disgusting.  Children still have civil and privacy rights.  I'm wondering... does this now mean that the school is in possession of and administrators have viewed child pornography?  I think it does!  This school (and others like it) deserves what's coming to it and I think the individual administrators need to be prosecuted under child pornography laws.

So two days ago my DD's computer started to really act up. It would just shut down for no apparent reason. DH got on trying to fix it. He noticed that one of the fans inside wasn't working right so they went and got a replacement part for it yesterday. Everything seemed to be working and then last night it started shutting off again. DH even tried to login via safe mode so he could see if maybe the issue were a virus but it still kept shutting down.

DD was aware that she had enough money in her bank account to buy a new one so that's what we all did today. We first went to Target (nothing there), then we went to Walmart (ugh. they had something but we still had one more place to check), then we hit Best Buy. Ta-da.... they had the deal we had seen online as an in store deal. My DD ended up choosing that one. It was the best deal in her price range.

Then the super deals on laptops caught my eye. I had no intention of buying anything for myself when we went in but I'm at the point where I just can't stand my DH's nagging about my time on the computer anymore. I need one for myself so that I can do other things during the day and use the computer at night. As it is now, I have to use the computer during the day.

The computer that just broke down was supposed to be mine in the first place.

No, I don't have the money to be buying a computer for myself. Yes, I put it on a credit card. I just hope that now I can really focus on building an online income without having my DH nag me about using the main computer. Now I have my own.

I don't like this worry about money that spending money causes me. Maybe I need to go find a night job. The Walgreens and Kroger (both of which are down the road from where I live) are open 24 hours. Maybe they would hire me to work 10pm to 2am for 5 nights a week. Maybe I'll have to start donating plasma again. Ugh. I don't know... I do know that worrying won't make it better.

Weigh-in 2/26

172.  Yeah, big fat bummer.  That's 2 lbs up from last week.  I had this feeling that it wouldn't be good.  Like I mentioned in my last post, last week I was terrible with the food.

I had a horrible food week last week. The entire weekend is shot. I don't know what to expect with my weigh-in tomorrow. It's probably not going to be good. It will be what it will be. I'll log it, make any changes needed and move forward.

I got the posts from my unschooling blog uploaded to here and I'm going through them one by one... editing when necessary... checking links... labeling with proper tags... then hitting publish.

I've gotten through over 50 posts back in 2005 & 2006. I've got a couple hundred more to go. LOL.

The look back is amazing. The transition to unschooling is there. My old Christian life is there. It's really cool to look back and see how much I've changed.