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.

Caring for Pets Left Behind by the Rapture

Have you ever wondered what would happen to all of the pets left behind by Christians after the rapture?  Well, Bart Centre has the answer.

Is Bart Centre a genius?  I think so.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_08/b4167070046047.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

Caring for Pets Left Behind by the Rapture
For a fee, this service will place your dog or cat in the home of a caring atheist on Judgment Day

By Mike Di Paola

Many people in the U.S.—perhaps 20 million to 40 million—believe there will be a Second Coming in their lifetimes, followed by the Rapture . In this event, they say, the righteous will be spirited away to a better place while the godless remain on Earth. But what will become of all the pets?

Bart Centre, 61, a retired retail executive in New Hampshire, says many people are troubled by this question, and he wants to help. He started a service called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets that promises to rescue and care for animals left behind by the saved.

Promoted on the Web as "the next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture World," the service has attracted more than 100 clients, who pay $110 for a 10-year contract ($15 for each additional pet.) If the Rapture happens in that time, the pets left behind will have homes—with atheists. Centre has set up a national network of godless humans to carry out the mission. "If you love your pets, I can't understand how you could not consider this," he says.

Centre came up with the idea while working on his book, The Atheist Camel Chronicles, written under the pseudonym Dromedary Hump. In it, he says many unkind things about the devout and confesses that "I'm trying to figure out how to cash in on this hysteria to supplement my income."

Whatever motivates Centre, he has tapped into a source of genuine unease. Todd Strandberg, who founded a biblical prophecy Web site called raptureready.com that draws 250,000 unique visitors a month, agrees that Fido and Mittens are doomed. "Pets don't have souls, so they'll remain on Earth. I don't see how they can be taken with you," he says. "A lot of persons are concerned about their pets, but I don't know if they should necessarily trust atheists to take care of them."

This paradox poses a challenge for Centre. He must reassure the Rapture crowd that his pet rescuers are wicked enough to be left behind but good enough to take proper care of the abandoned pets. Rescuers must sign an affidavit to affirm their disbelief in God—and they must also clear a criminal background check. "We want people who have pets and are animal lovers," Centre says. They also must have the means to rescue and transport the animals in their charge. His network consists of 26 rescuers covering 22 states. "They take this very seriously," Centre says.

One of Centre's atheist recruits is Laura, a woman in her 30s who lives near the buckle of the Bible Belt in Oklahoma, and who prefers not to give her last name. She has two dogs of her own and has made a commitment to rescue four dogs and two cats when—if—the time comes. "If it happens, my first thought will be, 'I've got work to do,'" Laura says. "The first thing I'll do is find out where I need to go exactly."

The rescuers won't know the precise location of the animals until the Rapture arrives, at which time they will contact Centre for instructions. "I've got to get to [the pets] within a maximum of 18 to 24 hours. We really don't want them to wait more than a day." A day she believes will never come.

Centre doesn't think he will ever have to follow through on the service he offers. But he believes in virtuous acts. His Web site directs about $200 a month in proceeds from Google ads to food banks in Minnesota and New Hampshire. And to pet owners, he has already delivered something of great value: peace of mind, for just 92 cents a month. "If we thought the Rapture was really going to happen," Centre says, "obviously our rate structure would be much higher."

Di Paola is a reporter for Bloomberg News .

Ok, I've managed to get my other blog posts and comments exported and transfered (to a test blog... not here yet).  Did you know that you can't transfer a Wordpress blog to a Blogger blog... at least not without this extra little step:  http://wordpress2blogger.appspot.com/

One question for you... does being authentic mean that I have to share my name?  Just wondering.  If I do that, then I'll have to go back and hide lots of posts here because of the personal family stuff that I've shared.  I guess I'm still thinking on it.

Things will be changing...

on this blog soon.

I've been thinking about my old unschooling blog for quite sometime now. I miss it and really want to get back to talking about unschooling and posting my opinions about things. I am going to be merging that blog with this one in the near future so that I can start meshing all the parts of me into one blog.

I told my DH tonight that he was just going to have to deal with the hippy/feminist/liberal side of me. It's how I was when he met me. That strong part of who I was then is part of what he found attractive about me. I am a libertarian but many of my views are liberal in nature, it's just that I don't agree with forcing those views or any others onto other people via laws and government... or in anyway at all.

I expect to one day feel strong enough to even tell my family that I am no longer a Christian and that things of that spiritual nature are questionable at best. Those things are continually evolving in my life.

So, as soon as DH gets his next big job and I have some extended time to have computer access the wheels will be in motion to get this blog and that blog reworked and meshed.

Weigh-in 2/15/10

170!!!! 2 lbs down from last week and 31 lbs overall.  I'm tetering just under 170 but not enough for me to call it 169.  I'm SO close to a new decade!  Yippy.

Weigh-in 2/8/10

172. 1 lb up from last week. Boo. Understandable considering the last 3 days. Friday... date night with DH. Saturday... bithday party and dinner over at S house. Sunday... Super Bowl dinner at my dad's.

I'm going to have to reevaluate the 6 lb goal.

So... So much for blogging daily. I was using this blog to vent and work through some things. I suppose I haven't been holding onto things quite as long. That's certainly not a bad thing.

I had a good day today. We had co-op classes and then I went grocery shopping. I dropped my eggs while loading up the groceries, so I ended up having scrambled eggs for lunch. LOL.

DD had her tap and jazz class tonight. I sat in the lobby and searched the net for little different colored icons to use on my blogs. I guess I'll add those here, too.

Time to get back to watching CSI NY. I taped it last night and have a chance to catch up on viewing tonight.

Does anyone else still use their VCR to tape shows? I can't be the only one who's never had nor can afford DVR.

Weigh-in 2/1/10

171! I am officially 30 lbs down AND I made my challege goal of 5 lbs that I set for myself 2 weeks ago.

I can't wait for the scale to say 16_. It's so close. It's been forever since I've been in the 160's. Soon I'll be able to take out the boxes of clothes under my bed and be able to wear some of them.

Because Feb. is a short month I think I'll challege myself to lose 6 lbs before the end of the month, that will take me down to 165. It's doable but I'll have to add the exercise back in and really watch not just how much I'm eating but what I'm eating. No reason to have a challene that isn't actually a challege.