Removing Webcam Tracking feature from Laptops at LMSD
- 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.)
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My name is Manuel Tebas. I was a student at Harriton High School, in the graduating class of 2009. We were the first year on the one-to-one laptop initiative. I am currently a student at George Washington University. I saw your post about removing webcam capability from the Macbook. It is possible - I did it last year, by proxy. I will preface this by saying that when I did it, I was almost expelled, saved only by the fact that there was, at the time, no rule against doing so. I do not know if this remains the case, but it seems unlikely. This method will give you administrative control over your laptop, allowing you to access the consoles you were unable too during your demonstration, such as Terminal. Last year, to the chagrin of school officials, and to my own surprise, it also gave you unlimited access into the student records, including the ability to change grades on PowerSchool. I did not intend to access these files when I "Hacked" my laptop, merely to install a few games to pass the classes with (Senioritis.) This includes disabling the webcam. At the bottom of the MacBook, there is a battery. Remove it. You will notice two screws against the main body of the laptop, inside the battery indent. Remove these. Within, there is the Macbook's RAM. Remove, and then reinsert this chip. Screw it back together, and put the battery in. Upon restarting the Laptop, you will be prompted to finish installing Mac OSX, and create an administrator account. You know have a fully unlocked computer. Again, I do not advise students to do this. However, it can be done. |
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It is certainly possible. As I understand, it is done through a program installed on all laptops. I do not see why accessing the webcam would be that difficult with the right permissions.
Frontpaged. This is good stuff.
It should also be cautioned that if a technique like this is tried, the school district may try to bring criminal charges against the studnet. This happened some years ago at Kutztown University: http://overlawyered.com/2005/08/kutztown-student-hacking-case/ (thanks to the person who sent me that link)
Heh,heh,heh.
Had they expelled you, they would have denied GWU a valuable member of the student body. I attended Harriton in the late Sixties/early Seventies and it was a whole different scene back then. From your comment regarding near expulsion and other things that students have posted regarding security measures and students being enticed to spy on other students, it seems like today's Harriton is more like a concentration camp than a high school. A bunch of Fascists.
The easiest and safest method for dealing with out of control peeping school administrators is to return the laptops to the superintendent's office with a no thanks note.
There is no such thing as a free lunch or laptop
Take back your privacy and give back the laptops
That may be impossible. I remember that the laptop was a requirement in school for many classes. That may remain so.
See the problem with that Marcus is that students are not permitted to refuse the laptop and use their own, it's required that they use the one issued to them by the District...
These are my thoughts alone folks. Just reminding y'all. "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 had brought in my own personal computer to work on a project for school one day. I was doing a presentation involving programs not available on the regular computers, only in specific labs. I happened to have a copy of my own. My personal property was confiscated from me in a study hall when I was working on a school assignment because it was against the schools 'code of conduct'. It was ridiculous.
Not to mention, it's impossible to connect to their wireless internet with out a considerable amount of effort You need DNS numbers, proxies installed, permissions given and WEP passwords. All that fun stuff. That's just to get permission access. your computers personal location and ID have to be granted permission by the server to even be able to log in.
Haha, whut? The whole point of DHCP is so that you don't need to enter in your own DNS server information. That's just insane.
I believe they are. I remember trying to log in and needing it.
If you're trying to hack into an internet server in general, the DHCP becomes a rather useless thing for you. 
When enough people en masse refuse them, the district will have no choice. It is called the power of the crowd. Just imagine the district having to inventory and secure 2300 laptops a day if students refuse to take them home.
The crowd always has the power. Some civil disobedience goes a long way. Don't be so fast to knuckle under to a written policy (or you will be doing it the rest of your life), written by people serving their own interests.
Stand up, speak up, act up, and take back YOUR school!
The students aren't going to refuse a free laptop. Even after this incident. They'll just tape over the webcam and keep on using and abusing it, because in the end, it isn't their computer. They don't care if it breaks or gets a virus. They'll just hand it off to the IT people and get a different one.
Marcus you are likely not from here, and do not understand the ultra-high achieving culture. To refuse the laptop is to guarantee that you will not do well in your classes - it's akin to refusing a textbook for the class. These kids are pushed and programmed to do well. That's why this is not only one of the top Districts in the state but also in the country and is competitive with elite private schools.
That this hard-earned reputation is being sullied by poor (but well paid) administrators is sickening.
Because this is such a high pressure environment we parents must advocate for our kids safety and their rights - because they are not always able to do so themselves. It's one thing to tell someone else's boss off. It's another entirely to tell your own. Because in the end, you're the one who lives with the grades, and at LM grades are everything.
So while I appreciate the "Fight the Power!" rhetoric, I recognize it as being what it is. It is up to we parents and taxpayers to advocate for safe, fair, and legal schools where privacy and liberty are both honored.
What I understand is a system that has brainwashed generations into being abused and taken advantage of. Teaching people not to stand up and fight when they are being kicked. When will you all get mad and take action? After the school installs keystroke logging software and has access to your email, facebook, private matter. Will you get mad when the schools starts disciplining you for what you post online or write in an email - outside of school. Maybe you will get mad when they start deleting non school work from the laptops.
It's sad that a whole generation is willing to throw away privacy and freedom for a free laptop. Don't worry, if you won't learn to stand up and speak out, you'll certainly learn to just take it.
You are defending the people who have exploited your kids. What a sad day.
Hi, I'm a 2009 Graduate of Harriton Highschool. I'm now attending Drexel University, studying Engineering. I knew the "hackers" (most of them were my close friends) and was with them when it took place. The only reason I didn't partake in it is because I was afraid of the repercussions (more so from my parents than the school.)
The situation is ridiculous to begin with. There are probably 3 printers in the school and to use them you either have to stand in line for 20 minute before classes start, in between class, or during your lunch period. All of which are extremely inconvenient and will make you late to class. Most teachers will get angry at you if it's not printed out before class or if you are late because you are printing out their assignment. Then if you don't print it because you didn't want to be late for class, some teachers will count it as a day late. That's just one of the many flaws with the program.
Another is of course students go out of their way to not pay attention to class. The teachers do not have control or the ability to view what the students are doing on their laptops, unlike in a computer lab where the proctoring teacher can view each individual computer from their own and if need be, close out of inappropriate windows. While I don't think that's necessary, I definitely noticed a decline in the quality of classes in my senior year, due to the fact that NO ONE was paying any attention because they had a constant distraction in front of them. Of course, we all had senioritis, but this was beyond 'just senioritis'.
I and a few of my fellow peers were suspicious of this sort of activity when we first received the laptops. The light next to the web cam would randomly come on, whether we were in class, in study hall or at home minding our own business. We reported it multiple times, each time getting the response: "It's only a malfunction. if you'd like we'll look into it and give you a loaner computer."
...
Really. A malfunction that every computer has at the same time? Likely story. Also a near impossibility.
Honestly the whole situation makes me angry. I'm just glad I'm out of there.
In all honesty, a good percentage of the kids in the school are much smarter than the IT department, who graduated from some IT school 20 years ago. Many of them have been tinkering with electronics and computers for years. I for one was scripting in 7th grade and built my own computer at 14. Believe me. I'm not the only one by a long shot.
All in all, what the school is doing is highly illegal. If they ever thought that they could pull that off in a school district where every kid has lawyers and doctors for parents, then they deserve what ever gets dished out. I just feel bad for the tax increases that are inevitably going to come from it.
Front page of comcast has a story, front page of AOL has a story, BBC has a story, and if you are a stumble user, go ahead, hit that button. Every other page that comes up will be an article on this catastrophe.
These articles were on the front page of comcast earlier today:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20100218/US.Laptops.Spying.on.Students/
http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20100219/US.Laptops.Spying.on.Students/
Also, here's a kicker.
http://www.zazzle.com/lower_merion_school_district_scandal_parody_tshirt-235568003500926676
Everyone. Buy that t-shirt. 
Says 'Director of Communications' Young:
"We're proud of taking the lead with this initiative, and giving laptops to students, but anytime you're talking about technology and education and kids, there's an important conversation to be had about privacy and balance," Young told The Associated Press on Friday.
"We've taken pause over the last day and gone back and begun to review everything that's related to our policies and procedures," he said.
Does anyone else get sick and tired of the mind-numbing bullshit that spews forth from PR people? Give me a break. Get real.
Now that is really something. m4nu, do you think that someone who managed to give themselves an administrative password would be able to gain access to other laptops' remote cameras?