Imagine the excitement of receiving a free laptop for school work. Outfitted with everything you need to get those big projects done including a webcam. Now imagine getting in trouble for doing something against school rules in front of that laptop, and knowing that the faculty could see whatever you did. Well, that is exactly what happened to Blake J. Robbins, of the Lower Merion school district in Pennsylvania.
When Blake was receiving punishment for inappropriate behavior. When he asked for proof. The Assistant Principle of Harriton Highschool, Lindy Matsko showed him a picture taken from a laptop at his home. The Assistant Principle had this to say...
When 2,300 students were issued laptops this September little did they know that every single one of those laptops was equipped with a "spy tracking software". This enabled them to take a still image of whatever a student was doing in front of the laptop whenever they wanted. The faculty's reasoning behind doing this was that if a laptop is reported stolen they can capture an image of the perpetrator.
The Robbins family is suing for, Invasion of Privacy, theft of private information, and unlawful interception, and aces to acquired and exported data in violation of the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act, violation of The Computer Fraud Abuse Act, violation of The Stored Communications Act, violation of section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, violation of The IV Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, violation of The Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, and violation of Pennsylvania common law. The full overview of the charges listed in this document.
In my personal opinion I think that the people behind the spying of the kids should get the punishment they deserve. Not only is it unnecessary to watch what students are doing at home, but it's just plain creepy. They claim it was used to protect from theft, but a picture could be taken at any time, giving no limitation to the power of surveillance the school has. In all honesty they probably could have thought of more conventional methods to track down criminals than taking pictures when the laptops were in use. I personally was visiting my friend who goes to that school, 3 days before the spying was discovered. To think that at any time we were using that computer I could have been photographed without permission freaks me out. I know that GBN has been talking about lending laptops to all of the students, and if I am still at this school when that happens I don't want to have to think twice about what I do in front of the computer in the privacy of my own home.
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