Via Kos: WebCamGate Report Released. Conclusion? They're screwed.

[Occulus]

WebCamGate Report Released. Conclusion? They're screwed.

by Brainwrap WebCamGate Report Released. Conclusion? They're screwed.
Mon May 03, 2010 at 11:59:59 PM EDT

LET'S REVIEW, SHALL WE???

So far in the As the WebCam Turns®, we've learned that:

--They never informing the parents or students of the remote surveillance program

--The Lower Merion School District first denied that the program existed

--They then denied that it was ever used to monitor students...

--They then admitted that it was activated "only 42 times"

--Then admitted that it was activated "80 times"

--Then, that it was activated ""about 146 times"

--Then, they admitted that over 56,000 images--many of which depict underage teenagers' bedrooms, and all of which were taken without the students' knowledge--were uploaded to the schools' servers over a 2-year period.

--The IT director then claimed that the school has the legal right to spy on your kid in their bedroom if they fail to pay a fee...

--We learned that it wasn't just photos which were taken, but screen shots of the laptops as well, including instant messages or video chats had with friends>...

--We learned that the administrator in charge of the program, Carol Cafiero (the same one who took the fifth in her deposition), who had previously refused to turn over her home personal computer, finally agreed to do so...

--We learned that Cafiero "Loved" the "little LMSD soap opera" that she and her IT colleagues had an exclusive audience to for the past 2 years...

<SNIP>

ALL OF THIS LEADS UP TO TODAY'S REVELATIONS: ie, the official report on the whole mess (pdf) by the law firm of Ballard Spahr and L3 Communications, which was brought in to assist in the investigation. However, before I continue, I should note that as bad as this report makes the LMSD administrators and IT staff look, Ballard Spahr is THEIR law firm.

That's right, the following revelations are part of the DEFENSE ATTORNEYS in the case. One can only begin to imagine what the prosecution (or the FBI, which is also doing their own investigation) might come up with:

--Officials knew that the student had taken his school-issued laptop home, but activated the remote webcam anyway, taking hundreds of secret photos and screenshots, including him sleeping, partly dressed, his father, and IMs/photos of friends of his.

--The total number of pics secretly taken from the students' computers has gone up from 56,000 to 58,000...at a minimum; 50,000 of which were taken after the laptops had already been found and re-issued to students, showing the students, their friends and families.

MUCH more at the link.

Screwed indeed. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.

Edited to add:



Another edit: while I appreciate the recs, please bear in mind that this is NOT "my" post; this is via Daily Kos and I do not take credit for any part of it.

[hobbit709]

1. Where are the great defenders of the school administration?

"crickets"

[Occulus]

2. That's what the popcorn tub is for.

:D

[rhett o rick]

4. I am slow. What about popcorn? nm

[Occulus]

5. Read the tub.

"Lower Merion" threads always seem to end up popcorn-worthy. Thus, the entry on the tub.

[rhett o rick]

12. Call me stupid, but I dont get the popcorn analogy. nm

[Matariki]

13. Popcorn icon regarding a topic

used as a shorthand meaning "well this is going to be interesting" regarding the inevitable flamewar a particular topic is bound to engender.

See the "Smilies lookup table" about the Subject field to use it yourself :popcorn: ;-)

[rhett o rick]

19. Ok thanks. But at this point is this issue still instigate a flame war?

I know it did at first, but now I would think the supporters of the school admin would be hiding.

[Matariki]

23. Heh. This is DU - if people can fight about the Olive Garden

what can't they fight about? ;-)

[rhett o rick]

31. I hear you. nm

[1955doubledie]

33. That's the #@$%&est piece of #@&%$!? I've heard all day

Really, I hope you &*%#@%!$ your &*^%$?%.

:evilgrin:

[Posteritatis]

11. Threads on this always degenerate into a flamewar

There's a few people who consistently and at great length deny that this is a problem, and who have been beating that drum since the first reports of this appeared awhile ago.

It'll happen with this one within the day too, I imagine.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. How many students has the school lost?

If it were MY kid there, they would be OUT in a flash.

[malaise]

6. Isn't this a gazillion times worst

than hacking Lady Blah Blah's email account?

[Occulus]

9. It's worse than anyone who has been following this from the beginning could have imagined.

Definitely worse than hacking Palin's email account.

Here's something to consider: the images and IMs and emails captured by the spying system on the school laptops (if any at all) from people who are not students of this district are serious privacy invasions in and of themselves. Such persons were not subject to, nor were they informed of, the school's policy and were party to no agreement and remain subject to none of the school district's policies, expressed or implied. Those individuals had no binding contract with the school district, which opens it up to further litigation above and beyond the students affected by the spying on the part of the school.

[Obamanaut]

7. This, plus a tax increase on cigs in Washington. One disappointment

after another.

[Ikonoklast]

15. Oh, the horror!

Those poor people can't afford the tax!



What a specious load of crap that one was.

[yowzayowzayowza]

8. Excellent diary, thx! K&R

[Occulus]

10. I thought so too.

Very nice of the diarist to include all the relevant links.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. kickety kick kick

this just figures...you KNEW there was more than the initial report suggested.

sP

[defendandprotect]

16. k

[PCIntern]

17. Great post...THANKS!

I'm awaiting the replies of the Defenders of the Faith...

...adn BTW, I don't care if you invented it or not...thanks for posting!

PC

[msanthrope]

24. They ain't showing up.....n/t

[Occulus]

25. You're welcome.

I know this is of interest to you. I thought you might want to see it.

[liberalhistorian]

26. I wonder if we'll be hearing any

"bells" ringing here soon. LOL. She's probably working doubletime trying to figure out how to spin this one to be in the school's favor. Getting harder and harder for her to do that, no doubt. Her and Kansas proud one.

[liberalhistorian]

29. Nope, still no "bells" ringing!

LOL. Must be taking longer for her to pull her needles of talking points out of the ever-growing haystack of evidence against them.

[Octafish]

18. C'mon. Those kids could've been terrarists.

They got nothin' to fear if they done nothin' wrong.

:sarcasm:

[Richard Steele]

20. Wow, did DU's favorite 'Dr. Lecturn' finally get banned, or is he just taking a day off?

Doesn't hardly even seem like a PC-Spying thread
without him here spinning and snarking in defense
of the utterly indefensible.

[Edweird]

21. Good news. K&R.

[Jkid]

22. I don't care about the flamewar, gimme the popcorn!

:popcorn:

[woo me with science]

27. "I suggest you take a breath and relax."

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100502_Student_foresaw_Web-cam_troubles.html

Student foresaw Web-cam troubles
By John P. Martin

In hindsight, the e-mail looks eerily prophetic.

A high school student sent it to the Lower Merion School District's top technology administrator in 2008, weeks before the district began handing out laptops to students.

The teenager had done his homework, researching the software the district planned to load on every machine. He discovered the system would allow employees to remotely monitor students' laptops, and called it "appalling" that the district hadn't told anyone.

"I could see not informing parents and students of this fact causing a huge uproar," said the student's e-mail, which The Inquirer has reviewed.

In her reply, information systems director Virginia DiMedio told the student not to worry.

"If we were going to monitor student use at home we would have stated so," her e-mail said. "Think about it - why would we do that? There is no purpose. We are not a police state."

DiMedio ended her reply: "I suggest you take a breath and relax."

.....

[woo me with science]

28. Kick. nt

[MicaelS]

30. I'd say some of the IT people are toast.

Looks like the district will probably throw the two IT people (Caiferio and Perblix) who had administrator control of the system under the bus.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/technology/20100504__Webcamgate__findings.html

The report was critical of the Main Line district's "overzealous" information-services staff, who activated the program "without any apparent regard for privacy considerations or sufficient consultation with administrators."

No evidence has surfaced that employees intentionally misused the technology to "spy" on students, but the lack of a written policy on when the program should have been activated and deactivated led to the "unwarranted collection of thousands of images of students." A federal judge is overseeing the process of contacting the affected families.

The 69-page report appears to confirm the Robbinses' assertion that the district was aware that Blake had taken a loaner laptop home, and that TheftTrack should not have been activated because the laptop's location was known. In February, the family filed an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit in federal court. They are seeking class-action status.

"By their own rules, they were only supposed to take pictures on lost or stolen computers, and Blake's was neither," his mother, Holly, told the Daily News. "They never once asked us to turn Blake's computer in."

Plus they'll heap blame (and should do so IMO), on Virginia DiMedio, the district's former top technology official who retired last summer. IMO, she failed to assert the authority given her, and put into place an interim policy, awaiting the final decision of her superiors, to prevent just this type of thing from happening.

[Nothing Without Hope]

32. I predict the defense will be based on scapegoating. The string-pullers will

try to get off without a scratch while sanctimoniously blaming underlings. The hypocrisy gods will beam down on it all.