Is Lower Merion School District Spying on Students in Their Homes?
- Access to all of our posts and comments
- Your own profile including an avatar, buddy lists, and other social networking features
- The ability to send private messages to other users on this site
- The ability to chat and interact with other citizens and voters in and around Lower Merion.
(Don't live in Lower Merion? That's okay. We won't hold it aginst you.)
 
|
Seen on Boing Boing just now:
The rest of this story is at http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/17/school-used-student.html This is rather scary that a school is potentially spying on their students... not just when they're off school property, but when they are in spaces they consider to be private. Namely their own homes. No warrant. No due process. I find this sort of behavior nothing sort of Chilling. Then there's another possible motive. Is Lower Merion School District spying on students so they can determine who the plaintiffs are in the case of Students Doe v. The School District of Lower Merion? Hmm. The mind wonders. Here's the legal filing for anyone who wishes to read it: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home Bookmark/Search this post with: |
- dmuth's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Oh my.
Spying on kids at home? Without their permission? Whatever were they thinking? And why is this the business of the school district what they do at home?
"I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time." - Brian Andreas
If this turns out to be true, those involved should be immediately FIRED. In my opinion it is like placing a wire tap on the phone, a bug in the house, etc.
I agree they should be fired but this is lower Merion they can do what they want....
If this is true LMT voters, we need to clean the LMSD house regardless of unions, or SB incumbents,or party loyalty -these criminals need to be fired and escorted out of the township. From the top administrators, communications team, technology support team to this principal, fired.
If true, the people who implemented this spying, do not belong NEAR children.
This is disgusting,implemented under the guise of helping students learn?! Filthy.
If true, this really is end of civilized society.
WOW!
Rich Ilgenfritz just published an article with the District's response.
Doug Young responds:
District officials said the first they heard of the allegations was Thursday morning.
“This is the first we have heard of this lawsuit being filed and the plaintiff’s allegations. However, we can categorically state that we have always been committed to protecting the privacy of our students,” district spokesman Doug Young wrote in an e-mail to Main Line Media News. “Our district was one of the first in Pennsylvania to provide free laptops to all high school students and this educational initiative has been successful and well-received in our school community. The legal matter has been referred to our attorneys for appropriate action and we will continue to update students and families with additional information.”
So they don't know what their own Vice Principal is doing? Yikes!
As always these are my thoughts alone, and not representative of any organization I'm a member of. "I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time." - Brian Andreas
Posted on digg:
"As a recent graduate of Harriton, I thought I could shed some light on the situation. These laptops were 2.0ghz 2gb Macbooks issued out to all the students for the entire year to do whatever they wanted and this was the 2nd year of the program. The webcam couldn't be disabled due through tough tough security settings. Occasionally we would notice that the green light was on from time to time but we just figured that it was glitching out as some macbooks do sometimes. Some few covered it up with tape and post its because they thought the IT guys were watching them. I always thought they were crazy and that the district, one of the more respectable ones within the state, would never pull some shit like this. I guess I was wrong. I am a little surprised because nobody in the past had be disciplined for doing anything inappropriate during school or outside of school. The only thing coming close was a kid performing a simple hack to make another account in order to install games. This specific incident was traced through the network by the IT dept. While I still think there might be a chance the vice principal/ disciplinarian doesn't have these specific images as she is quite the type to make a bluff like that, it sounds to me like this is legit. If they have been watching all of us and looking at our logs and looking at what we type, I can assure you that they have seen lots and lots and lots of dirty things."
Who took the picture? All the complaint says (p. 6, item 23) is that it was "embedded in minor Plaintiff's personal laptop".
That the school district can remotely activate webcams is irrelevant if they haven't done so.
Personally, I'd like to see the school board enact a policy that LMSD wont activate webcams without authorization, and that anyone associated with the school district who does so in violation of the policy will be dismissed.
If the school district took the picture by remote activation of the webcam, then Doug Young's protestations about LMSD protecting student privacy are BS, and anyone involved in this patently unconstitutional search should be fired IMMEDIATELY.
Why am I not surprised?
What's scary is that there is no real surprise anymore when stuff like this happens in Lower Merion.
=================
Brotherhood of Thieves ~ As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.
http://gizmodo.com/5474614/school-spies-students-through-their-laptop-cameras
Best quote so far: "Way to go KGB wanna-be ass clowns."
More great press for one of the nations wealthiest school districts!!
I have to tell you I am so freaked out over this news and I don't even have kids. The idea of LMSD doing this to innocent children on top of everything else is just so amazing.
I am going to post articles and hyperlinks for my contribution in a seperate post.
_____________________________________________________________
L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
I sent out an email to friends with kids in LM schools and all Hell is breaking loose.
LMSD has no credibility and should settle the racial discrimination lawsuit ASAP and then come clean on this.
=================
Brotherhood of Thieves ~ As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.
Woohoo!! This thing is spreading like wildfire. Number 1 story on KYW Newsradio website. Philly.com has the lead graphic of a laptop. The Taj Mahal @ Harriton fills the screen. They also have a link to the actual lawsuit.
While I agree that it would serve the taxpayers better to settle the racial suit, settlements mask the facts of a case. Any racism by the School District should be exposed for all to see. Only in this way, do people have the oppotunity to see just what kind of characters we are really dealing with.
One aspect of this 'redistricting' that has gone unmentioned is the non-'green' aspect of it. In these 'green' times, the District has no business putting even one bus on the road that is not a dire necessity. I wonder how they can reconcile this with kids that have been indoctrinated from the first day in school to literally worship the sacred orb on which they live. Their policy makes them out to be hypocrites.
Hey outtathere, you are 100% on the money with your redistricting and green hypocracy comments. It deserves a topic of its own but today I'm afraid it's going to get burried under the sandal du jour.
Oh, it is a subject for a whole other day. Far more serious matters are front and center now. I find it hard to believe that the Robbins family made this whole thing up and filed a frivolous lawsuit. There are many, many stories of the green activity light flashing on these kids' webcams without explanation. It will be interesting to see what comes out in court.
Carla, you are rightly freaked out by this. Beyond general privacy issues, the potential for pedophilia taking place with these remote webcams is frightening. If this student's allegations prove true and he was photographed without his knowledge, I feel the situation demands a thorough investigation by the Montgomery County District Attorney's office. Without such an investigation, the parents have no way of being sure that pedophilia has not already taken place.
It's already on the New York Times. This will make headlines for sure. More brilliant work by our School District's leadership! More tax money to lawyers and lawsuits!
Looking for a comment by the School District on their site, I instead found this, which apparently goes to the paper today:
http://lmsd.org/documents/bus/budget/1011/100218_exceptions.pdf
Taxes going up again. To provide "quality education" (not for lavish buildings of course. Wow.
Hooooooweeeeee! Makes Radnor School District look practically backward. All we have to deal with is "Grinding" at dances.
I've been turning this over in my mind much of the day. There is some possible version of the story that one could conjecture whereby the school administrator comes across such an image without actively peeping. But then there is the portion of the allegation that states that the administrator informed the parent that the school district has the right and the capability of turning on the camera and viewing students at any time. Now it could be that the administrator has gone rogue, or else he or she misspoke or was him or herself badly informed about district policy.
In any case the school board should act immediately to put in place a clear and unambiguous policy that this will never happen in the future, and also to vigorously investigate and appropriately discipline employees who may have spied on students at home. This can and should be done regardless of whether the school district admits wrongdoing in this specific case. It is necessary for the trust and piece of mind of district families.
Let's not forget the whole "disciplining a student for an activity done in their home (assuming it's not cheating or hacking the district mainframe) which just smacks of over-reaching authority. What my kid does in our home is *my* jurisdiction, not theirs.
"I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time." - Brian Andreas
Even if it is cheating or hacking, I'm not sure they could use the webcam without a search warrant.
One thing I am curious/confused about is this: who owns these laptops? Does the school own them, or do the students/their parents own them?
Even then, I do not believe a search warrant can be issued to a school district.
I guess I should elaborate: if LMSD had remote access to those machines, and the police were to obtain a search warrant, LMSD could be compelled to either turn over control of those machines to the LMPD, or compelled to access the web cams remotely.
This sort of thing is semi-common for ISPs. For example, see Room 641A.
LMSD owns the laptops. We (the parents and the students) signed a contract and paid insurance. The contract did not say that LMSD had the ability to, or could, remotely activate the webcam. I did not consent to have my daughter watched undressing via her school laptop. What a nightmare!
Hmm. That's going to limit what I can do in terms of disabling cameras on laptops then. (i.e., I can't boot the machine off of a CD and change the administrative user's password, since I'd have no legal right to do so).
Of course, if students or parents feel compelled to do this themselves out of concern for their personal privacy, I can't stop that.
The district just released its response on their website. It explains being able to activate the webcams as a feature to track lost or stolen laptops. Uhhhh, nope.
Initial response regarding LMSD 'invasion of privacy' allegation
Last year, our district became one of the first school systems in the United States to provide laptop computers to all high school students. This initiative has been well received and has provided educational benefits to our students.
The District is dedicated to protecting and promoting student privacy. The laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today.
We regret if this situation has caused any concern or inconvenience among our students and families.The allegations are counter to everything that we stand for as a school and a community. We are reviewing the matter and will provide an additional update as soon as information becomes available.
Oh my dear God this means they really *can* do it...and yeah, they did.
As a parent, I am horrified.
"I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time." - Brian Andreas
And by "reviewing," I can't help but wonder if they are busily scouring and removing all data....Next we'll here that a "regularly scheduled upgrade of systems" or something resulted in clean wipes and reinstalling of all computers and network equipment in the district or something....
Seriously, never underestimate the power of the need to cover one's own ass. Especially within such an arrogant organization. I hope someone in a position of authority has the forethought to order a stop to all school district led internal investigations, equipment maintenance, data review or archiving, wiping, etc.
Also, I'm no computer expert, but I have some networked devices. Pretty sure you can track a device connected to a network from things like IP addresses and other (non audio/visual) information a computer puts out. Security feature my ass.
Actually, for lost/stolen machines, a webcam is pretty invaluable.
An IP address will only tell you what ISP the computer is using. Getting its exact physical location from that is very difficult and usually requires cooperation of the ISP. Even then, it's next to impossible to determine who is actually using the computer and therefore, who to charge with the theft.
I'd sure love to hear LMSD's justification for how they might have thought the laptop was lost/stolen in this case, however.
If this really is only a 'security feature' why does today's news prompt them to disable it?
Ms. Gotlieb,
It certainly need not be pointed out that watching your daughter get undressed under any circumstances and for any purposes is pedophilia and is a criminal act. Even if say, the school disciplinarian were watching her smoking a joint, the moment she would begin to unbutton an article of clothing it would be incumbent upon that person to shut off the camera immediately. There is no excuse.
Doug,
I'm almost certain the the school district owns the computer, which is why I think this is a very different issue if the incriminating photo was "embedded" by the student rather than the school district.
My employer owns my computer, so I don't have any expectation of privacy vis-a-vis materials I store on the computer or websites I visit.
However, neither my employer nor any government agency (such as the Lower Merion school district) has the authority to conduct surveillance in my house without my consent (or probable cause sufficient to get a warrant).
If LMSD is responsible for taking the incriminating picture, then they deserve all the negative attention that this now viral story is going to deliver to their doorstep.
But if they're NOT responsible for the web-shot, then they need to get someone more credible than Doug Young in front of a camera RIGHT NOW to contain the damage, and I agree with Lex that they need to enact a series of policies PRONTO governing what is allowable by whom and when and get students and parents to buy in ASAP.
I saw some ambiguity in the way the term 'embedded' was used in the article. I read it over carefully and take it to mean that the camera is 'embedded' in the computer. I don't think that would be the appropriate term for a file being stored in the computer. Doug Muth would know the answer to this better than I.
afaik, "embedded" is not the proper term for what is being described. It could be that this term was deliberately chosen as a neutral, meaningless word, which only acknowledges that the image was on the computer somehow and that it subsequently came into the possession the administrator.
Correct. "Embedded" usually means software that is included on specialized hardware to do a specialized function. Examples: ATMs, cellphones, watches, the computer in your car, etc.
It's entirely possible that the person making the statement just didn't understand technology. "embedded" is a bit of a buzzword these days.
Google news lists 276 articles on this as of this writing. Kansas, USA Today, computerworld. Pretty widespread already I would say.
This is bad on so many levels.
Here's a blog from Forbes:
http://blogs.forbes.com/velocity/2010/02/18/teachers-spy-on-student-via-webcam/
The District is dedicated to protecting and promoting student privacy. The laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today.]
• How did the security feature work?
Upon a report of a suspected lost, stolen or missing laptop, the feature was activated by the District's security and technology departments. The tracking-security feature was limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen. This feature has only been used for the limited purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever.
Do you anticipate reactivating the tracking-security feature?
Not without express written notification to all students and families.
Sincerely,
Dr. Christopher McGinley
Superintendent
Here's my problem, Doc McGinley:
First you tell us that the 'security feature' was deactivated effective today.
Then you claim that the only time it was ever activated was when there was a lost, missing or stolen laptop.
Then finally you state that it will only be reactivated with written notice to students and families.
These statements seem to be contradictory, Doc. Yes, I did pretty well with reading comprehension in the LM schools. Then my knowledge of computers tells me that, in the event of a lost, missing or stolen computer, the instruction to activate that computer's webcam would be sent only to that computer's IP Address which would leave the other several thousand laptops in the dark. Thus your statement that all students and families will be given written notification makes no sense. Something's not adding up here, Doc.
Full statement from the District:
LMSD response to 'invasion of privacy' allegation
Updated 2/18/10 5:26 PMDear LMSD Community,
Last year, our district became one of the first school systems in the United States to provide laptop computers to all high school students. This initiative has been well received and has provided educational benefits to our students.
The District is dedicated to protecting and promoting student privacy. The laptops do contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops. This feature has been deactivated effective today.
The following questions and answers help explain the background behind the initial decision to install the tracking-security feature, its limited use, and next steps.
• Why are webcams installed on student laptops?
The Apple computers that the District provides to students come equipped with webcams and students are free to utilize this feature for educational purposes.
• Why was the remote tracking-security feature installed?
Laptops are a frequent target for theft in schools and off school property. The security feature was installed to help locate a laptop in the event it was reported lost, missing or stolen so that the laptop could be returned to the student.
• How did the security feature work?
Upon a report of a suspected lost, stolen or missing laptop, the feature was activated by the District's security and technology departments. The tracking-security feature was limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen. This feature has only been used for the limited purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever.
• Do you anticipate reactivating the tracking-security feature?
Not without express written notification to all students and families.
We regret if this situation has caused any concern or inconvenience among our students and families. We are reviewing the matter and will provide an additional update as soon as information becomes available.
Sincerely,
Dr. Christopher McGinley
Superintendent
"I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time." - Brian Andreas
I don't understand the district's response to the news today. Are they saying that the 'security feature' was used in an instance other than the event of a stolen computer, or are they not?
Doug, can you tell us: Should the school district have some record somewhere about how many times this security feature has been activated? Would there be a log of that stored somewhere?
Should the school district have some record somewhere about how many times this security feature has been activated? Would there be a log of that stored somewhere?
The answer is: that depends. Good software design mandates keeping a log of activity, which can be useful for debugging purposes ("what just happened?") and auditing purposes ("who did what?").
However, there are a couple of reasons for not keeping a log, either. Poor/rushed software design is one. Another is plausible deniability--if the software is specifically configured so that logs are not kept, then nothing exists that can be subpoenaed.
What is going to be interesting, however--and this is pure speculation--is if there are logs being kept, and once a subpoena is issued, all of the logs suddenly go "missing", specific portions of the logs go "missing", and/or all the backups magically become corrupted. It wasn't be the first time that digital evidence has mysteriously gone missing.
Doug,
If the Superintendent's story is true, and the 'security feature' is only activated in the event of a suspected lost, missing, or stolen laptop, wouldn't it stand to reason that the instruction to remotely activate the webcam would only be sent to that particular laptop's IP Address? That would effect only that laptop (which would be all that is necessary) and would have no effect on all the others.
What he is also saying is this: All those kids who are posting and talking about how their laptop webcam lights would come on now and then are either thieves or liars. Another great message from our dear Superintendent to his students. Wow.
What would make this even classier? If we learned that the "increased security" over at Harriton in the last couple years connects to the "racial balancing" underway in the district. Can we seriously put any of this past them now?
Hmm. I just had a thought.
Macs normally keep logs of their activity in the directory /var/log/.
I wonder if there is a log entry made when the state of a web cam is toggled?
I'd sure love to get my hands on one of these laptops and find out.
So is Lower Merion going to recall the laptops and scrub them of software in a CYA moment? Legally can they do that with litigation pending?
_____________________________________________________________
L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
It was announced to Harriton HS students today that the laptops will be recalled.
You're kidding, right?
"I hope it will be said we taught them to stand tall & proud, even in the face of history & the future was made new & whole for us all, one child at a time." - Brian Andreas
time to twitter...LOL. LMSD needs a rotten Apple MAC OUT tomorrow
_____________________________________________________________
L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers/Man is born free, yet he is everywhere in chains.–Jean Jacques Rosseau. The Social Contract, 1762
I don't for a minute believe the story put out by the Superintendent that this was merely a security measure and was only activated to track down a lost, missing or stolen laptop. Were that really the case, only that particular laptop would be effected. Thus the story in it's entirety makes no sense.
Then we have to wonder, if the School District was not using the webcams to observe students surreptitiously, then the suit is completely frivolous and likely malicious in it's intent. Though the facts will only come out in court, it seems unlikely that this family would engage in such litigation if there were no merit whatsoever. Even with the sparsity of actual facts regarding the disciplinary action taken against the student, it seems clear that it was not a matter of the kid having taken a picture of himself and then putting out on the net or storing it in his computer. If it were, there would be no basis for all the privacy complaints that have been filed.
There seems to be some serious CYA underway and it would appear that scrubbing the laptops clean would be destroying evidence and very mucy illegal.
Holy ---- !!!