Holy Big Brother! A school district just outside of Philadelphia is being accused in a lawsuit of spying on students at home with a webcam embedded in school-issued laptops. Oh boy! The lawsuit was filed by parents of a 15 year old student.
Lower Merion school district is saying they did nothing wrong. But they’ve promised to stop immediately.
According to The Lede:
The suit states that on Nov. 11, 2009, Lindy Matsko, an assistant principal at Harriton High School, informed Blake that he “was engaged in improper behavior in his home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the Webcam embedded in [his] personal laptop issued by the School District.” (The complete text of the suit was posted online by The Philadelphia Inquirer.)
The suit adds that Ms. Matsko subsequently confirmed to the boy’s father that the district “in fact has the ability to remotely activate the Webcam… at any time it chose and to view and capture whatever images were in front of the Webcam.”
In a letter to parents posted on the school district’s Web site late on Thursday night, Christopher W. McGinley Lower Merion’s schools superintendent, admitted that a security feature allowed the Webcams to be activated without the knowledge of the laptops’ users, but claimed that it was only used to track lost or stolen computers and had been disabled on Thursday.
Yeah. What could go wrong with this kind of power in the hands of the school district? This couldn’t be abused or anything, could it?
February 19, 2010 at 5:34 pm
How long until they're mounted to the walls in every room, with no OFF button?
Winston Smith, call your office.
I'd be at the superintendent's office with a pitchfork.
February 19, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Link?
That's scary stuff. Did they even inform students and parents that they had the ability to do this before issuing the laptops?
February 19, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Who defines the "improper behavior"?
Scary in more ways than one.
C Sommer
February 19, 2010 at 6:12 pm
If you accept "free" gifts from the state, always expect them to be Trojan horses.
February 19, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Blackrep has it right, there is nothing that the state gives out for free. Trojan horse is a perfect way to describe what "gifts" it does give.
Which is why I think the state should stick to defending it's citizens and get out of any "charity" that it has it's fingers in.
February 19, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Without knowing about the whole remote-activated-webcam aspect, one might legitimately wonder why educational dollars are being used to hand out free laptops to residents of Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs. Surely the money would be better spent in, say, Kensington or Strawberry Mansion.
But with these new revelations, it starts to make sense. Aside from better teachers, newer textbooks, and functioning buildings, what do rich kids in America get that poor kids don't? Answer: the luxury of attending schools instead of mini-prisons equipped with metal detectors, rent-a-cops, and zero-tolerance policies that result in seventh graders being arrested for writing on their desks.
Obviously this inequality needed to be remedied by equivalently striping Harriton High kids of their dignity and privacy, but in a manner less offensive to Main Line aesthetics. Harriton kids can come to school safe in the knowledge that their gym bags won't be x-rayed, and that their marker doodling will be remedied with Windex rather than handcuffs. But… Teacher is watching.
I have more to say on this topic here: http://holyprepuce.blogspot.com/2010/02/school-district-in-fact-has-ability-to.html
February 19, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Did it not occur to Ms. Matsko that spying on children in the privacy of their homes was not only very likely illegal (regardless of what any laptop contract said), but morally repugnant?
This is a sickening abuse of control and power.
February 19, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Hmm. What immediately comes to mind is the image of a laptop meeting a sledgehammer, followed by another image of a ziplock bag filled with pieces of plastic being hurled across a desk.
February 19, 2010 at 9:04 pm
I'd like to know what state or federal "grant" funded the handing out of school issued laptops in the first place 🙁
All in the name of a "better education" I suppose…sadly, our 12th graders know less about our country than Abraham Lincoln did with one formal year of "schooling".
Apparently the school administration knows even less…
February 19, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Our school district talked about handing out laptops too. It occurred to me that in efficient government fashion, the laptops, having been damaged or stolen, would result in the remainder being chained to desks at school.
February 19, 2010 at 10:51 pm
102 uses for duct tape.
February 19, 2010 at 11:03 pm
Here's the deal – as with all things that start well, government heads quickly into the ditch:
1) We want kids to be *creators* of content and not merely passive consumers.
2) There are also a number of non-intrusive educational apps (especially in Math and Science) that can do a pretty job of inferring where John or Jill "gets it" (so there's no need to bore them) or is getting stuck (so there's an opportunity to assist in the teachable moment).
3) The biggest barrier to using technology wisely for these goals is that the technology has to be persistent and always available.
4) You can't require netbooks or laptops like you require paper or pencils because of "equity" issues. This is the case even in a rich district like Lower Merion. Colleges and universities and private schools *can* require these since the families choose the schools!
5) This leads to poor districts simply ignoring technology (or only using it sporadically with smartboards or occasional labs). Rich districts use their budget (not state or federal grants) to provide laptops.
6) With the laptops come the strings. First is the desire to "protect" kids from the evils of the internet. There are a number of solutions that restrict access to anything not on an approved list. Ick. In the name of protection we've just passed over to censorship. To be fair, this is ok for younger kids, but as they hit high school we should teach them self-control and avoidance of the nasty stuff. This can be done by teaching information literacy – how to judge the veracity and applicability of content found online by research and cross-checking.
7) There are various remotely-activated tracking products. It's a good idea (think "LoJack for Laptops"). It was insane to select one that activated the webcam or microphone. This isnmore government stupidity than a concerted effort at government intrusion. The genius who recommended the product chosen by Lower Merion should be reprimanded and forced to reenact the "numa numa dance" for all the kids to view on their computers.
8) The assistant principal and all others who *chose* to use or pass along the data and didn't immediately recognize that the software needed to be replaced should be reprimanded and placed on probation (at least) and fired (especially if they took it on themselves to do this).
I believe learning should continue outside the schoolhouse walls, but control and direct oversight should stop at that point. The state is the creature of the family and not the other way around.
Cheers,
Doug
February 20, 2010 at 12:48 am
OK, the bad and naughty and disrespectful me of 25 years ago when I was in high school would have had a field day with the horribly inappropriate things I would've done in front of that webcam, if I had known a school official was on the other end. Thank goodness they didn't exist then! Ha!
February 20, 2010 at 6:26 am
And yet some Catholics romanticize that sort of authoritarian culture of surveillance:
http://renegadetrad.blogspot.com/2010/02/suffocation-tends-to-be-fatal.html
February 20, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Pennsylvania parents have the option of homeschooling their children with a Cyber School. I suspect that is what this family is doing. PA Cyber Schools are not charter schools they are actually considered public schools. As such, the children and parents must comply with the school district in a similar way to the students learning at the bricks and mortar public school. What parents don't know is that legally entitles the school district to "spy". A representative of the school district can also come into your home and check to make sure that your children are learning properly. This is not news here. Many parents want the option of homeschooling but they don't want to pay for it. This program is "free" paid for with state tax dollars. Parents really need to be careful when selecting homeschool options.
April 28, 2010 at 2:53 pm
It is a very good concept that avery student have laptop and web cams to touch with teacher and family