Hot Diggety! Benjamin Krueger was rumored to have written: > This story came out yesterday. A public school utilized webcams in > laptops to spy on children and their families both at school and at > home. The practice came to light after the Principal reprimanded a > student for behavior at home, using a picture from a webcam as > evidence.
UPDATE: The school district has responded with an announcement saying: http://www.lmsd.org/sections/news/default.php?m=0&t=today&p=lmsd_anno&id=1137 1) This feature is now disabled 2) They only used it to try and identify the culprit had the laptop been lost, missing, or stolen, and for no other reason 3) It was an Apple (MacBook perhaps?) 4) If this feature is reenabled, it will only be done after written notification is given to students and their parents #2 is not plausible /if/ the original lawsuit's allegation is true; that the parents were contacted by the school regarding webcam-captured behavior of their child when there was no allegation of loss. In the Gizmodo article, a quoted student says the active indicator would come on frequently while at home, so that would seem to cast doubt on the district's claim #2 (see above list) if this is true. More disturbingly, if this camera was coming on frequently outside of school hours -- evenings and weekends, I have to wonder if there were adult(s) spending significant amount of time obtaining illegal gratification. Quite a creepy thought. Even during the day, I'd seriously not want any outsider knowing when the house was empty (burglary risk -- especially since this is an affluent area). Corporate employers with company-issued equipment are generally allowed to monitor employee use of equipment and premises. But to be on the safe side, we make it clear employees may potentially be monitored, including their use of computers, and require their signature (after an opportunity to ask any questions or consult a third party) to be given access. There are still limitations such as not monitoring in areas that has a reasonable expectation of privacy such as restrooms, though. The district probably should've just stuck to application and system logging and logfile analysis along with apps that blocks or grant access to resources, for verification of permissible activity. *And* also, more clearly disclosed the extent and full implications of monitoring to parents in advance. Who needs software trojans when you've got the ultimate Trojan Horse right there in plain view??? The district folks are apparently avid students of classical Roman poetry; I'll grant them that much. -Dan P.S. The story of the Trojan Horse was from Virgil's poem, _The Aeneid_. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lopsa.org http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
