From the “You’ve got to be kidding” department comes a story that I’ve been following for a while, one that should make anyone think twice about using company or school-issued laptop computers.
It seems that the Lower Merion School District of Philadelphia has issued school-owned laptop computers to 1,800 high school students. This practice is becoming more common as school districts across the country endeavor to provide students with the latest technological learning tools. Not so common are schools using laptop computers as a way to spy on students and their families.
The district now finds itself in the middle of a class-action lawsuit filed in February by Harriton High School student Blake Robbins and his family on behalf of all Lower Merion students and their parents. Young Master Robbins was disciplined by Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko for what Matsko termed “improper behavior.” Justification for the punishment was offered in the form of a photograph of Robbins handling some mysterious white objects, which later turned out to be white candy and not illegal drugs, as was first thought.
False allegations aside, Robbins was especially shocked to learn that the photograph had been secretly taken by the camera built into his school-issued laptop. He was even more astonished when he realized that, not only was the picture secretly taken by his laptop’s webcam, but it was taken while he was at home with his parents. That’s right: the photograph was taken when his laptop’s camera was activated by remote control, taking a snapshot of Robbins while he was supposedly safe in the privacy of his own home.
Further investigation revealed that some overly-zealous boneheaded administrators at Lower Merion had conspired with the district IT department to install remote monitoring software on all the laptops that had been issued to students. Known as “LANRev,” the software is used mainly for its remote power management features. LANRev also has the ability to track a laptop’s location in case of theft, as well as remotely activating a laptops webcam in order to see what a possible laptop thief might be up to.
Prior to the lawsuit, which alleges all sorts of privacy violations, numerous students complained to the school’s IT staff that their laptops “Camera On” lights would turn on at seemingly random times. The answer was always the same: “It’s a computer glitch; don’t worry about it.” Since then, a federal judge has ordered the school district to stop its spying activities and the district and its administrators are now the object of an investigation by the FBI.
The ability to spy on computer users has been around for a long time, used mainly by private employers and creepy government agencies. That computer spying has come to our public schools should give everyone pause. On the one hand, kids are told to protect their privacy from online predators and to not give out personal information on websites like MySpace and Facebook. On the other hand, school administrators like those in Lower Merion are behaving like online predators, sending a message to kids that they have no right to privacy, even in their own bedrooms at home. In essence, kids are being told their privacy has no value at all. That’s a shame.