How a lawsuit over school laptops evolved

[The Straight Story]

Snip:

On his blog, "Best Thing Since Sliced Bread," Perbix recounted an incident in which police recovered a stolen laptop that was sending back its Internet location.

"The police went to the house and were befuddled to find out the people we knew had the laptop was not the family that lived there," Perbix wrote, cautioning people to secure their home wireless network.

"Well, we eventually found out that they were the neighboring house and were borrowing the unsecured WiFi."

Joseph Daly, who retired in 2009 as Lower Merion police superintendent, said he never knew that his department was being furnished with pictures snapped from students' laptops.

"God, no, I don't remember that," he said when told about it. "That's illegal as hell."

Even if no laws were in fact broken, Daly said, it's still a terrible idea.

....

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100321_How_a_lawsuit_over_school_laptops_evolved.html?page=3&c=y

Questioning privacy

Inside the schools, word was getting out. Some students put sticky notes over the Web cams, students said.

During the last school year, two Harriton student council members met with principal Steven R. Kline to ask about the Web cam rumors.

When Kline confirmed it, students told him they were worried about privacy violations and asked about other types of monitoring. But nothing happened - not even after the students returned for a follow-up visit, according to other council members who were briefed afterward.

.....

In November, Perbix was asked to turn on the computer assigned to Robbins.

The 15-year-old was hard on the Harriton laptops. He reportedly broke the screens of at least two. In November, he was using a replacement from a pool of loaner laptops. His family, which had struggled with unpaid utility bills and other debts, hadn't paid the required $55 insurance fee.

In Robbins' case, the tracking system wasn't activated to find a missing computer; according to his lawyer, the school knew he had been using the same loaner for a month.

Instead, someone decided to initiate Theft Tracker because it was suspected Robbins was taking the laptop home without permission, sources said.

The tracking program, by logging the laptop's Internet address overnight, would prove it. But, as was routine, Perbix left all three features running. Every 15 minutes, LANrev tried to log the location, snap a picture, and capture an image of what was on Robbins' screen.

What the program found alarmed the technical staff. One image showed him holding what looked like pills. Robbins says it was really Mike & Ike candy.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100321_How_a_lawsuit_over_school_laptops_evolved.html?page=4&c=y

[SidDithers]

1. Kick and rec...

particularly so that certain disbelieving poster can see these articles.

Sid

[mbperrin]

2. Easy solution. End the program.

Saves money and eliminates a whole host of other worries.

Will it put kids behind to not be computer literate? Sure. It'll put them behind to have to spend all time correcting misuse as well, so take the cheaper solution. We would wish everyone was simply mature enough to use their things wisely, but we know better.

Less game-playing and baiting the system = more learning.

[etherealtruth]

3. Hopefully, this will serve as a lesson to ....

.... the "powers that be" in school districts: Do not put yourselves in "fuzzy" legal grey areas. Have clear policies in place, have students and their guardians sign for the receipt and understanding of these policies and for heaven sake ..... do NOT deviate from your stated policy (in this case activating the web-cam to track down STOLEN equipment vs. activating the cam because YOU suspect a student is misusing the equipment/ owes you money).