I'm glad that somebody is still tracking this story, and it hasn't just dropped on the ground.
Too often, it seems, a news story outrages us, but the furor quickly dies down. In the end, nobody even notices the ritual scapegoat.
A little while back, somebody proposed here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1183587 ) a web app that would allow us to follow a news story entire life. This reminds of that, and why it would be a good idea.
One reason the furor over this died down so quickly is that different stories reported the facts differently. My friends and I all debated what had really happened. The student believed the webcam had taken pictures of him acting inappropriate without his knowledge or consent (and no parents were notified of this 'feature' of school-provided laptops).
However, it was not clear in initial reports if the student had actually done something and was spied on, or if he had taken pictures and shared them in school. Some schools have policies where students can be disciplined for violations off school grounds in instances of bullying or disseminating "ssext messages" from their peers. It was not clear, from the reporting, if this was the case.
The fact that the media is now reporting the facts, and the schools thought it was actually a good idea to spy on high school students in their own homes, shows a kind of unparalleled stupidity in both a legal standpoint and technological one.
Also, considering the statistic on how many children of the ages 14-18 "sext" one another, this software, the school's servers, the IT staff and the administrators could all be considered to be part of a child pornography network, if in fact any of those kids decided to "privately model" for another student using their laptop. Aside from the civil aspect of it, I would be contacting my state's AG to investigate whether or not any of those laws were broken.
where there is smoke, there is fire. Sounds to me like what initially was an ability to view students working in school quickly digressed into illegal abuse of the deployment. That district's insurance company must be terrified at this point, because lawyers are going to come out of the woodwork to jump on this one.
The district has said it turned on the camera in Robbins' computer because his family had not paid the $55 insurance fee and he was not authorized to take the laptop home.
This is puzzling. First of all, if he didn't pay the fee, why did he even have access to it to take it home? Secondly, if you already know where the laptop is and who has it, what's the point of turning on the camera? (Other than to satisfy your penchant for voyeurism)
Absolutely disgusting. I'm happy this case is being treated seriously and that (as it appears) there's the hope of action being taken against these school administrators.
I've thought for years that parents place far too much trust in public-school staff.
There is a tendency in society for people to blame the victim. You hear about rape crimes, and people ask what the girl was wearing with the idea that somehow she was 'asking for it.' I try to view the situation from both sides as much as possible, but I do not advocate blaming the vicitim in most circumstances.
In this particular case, it is stupid for the school system to even implement this policy in the first place. There are multiple issues with this other than the spying aspect.
(1) Why is the school letting the kids use laptops in the first place? What is wrong with desktop machines that are cheaper that stay at the school? Is there really a significant advantage given to learning or is it worth it to the taxpayer? I highly doubt a positive correlation exists between computer use and higher grades.
(2) They could simply have installed other tracking software or reported the IP address back to a server have the laptops found if stolen. They could have required some form of collateral or payment if a student lost a laptop or if the laptop was stolen. It does not make sense to justify such a method of tracking when other (better) solutions exist.
(3) The system was only 'activated' 42* times, but it took thousands of pictures? You only need one picture to identify someone. They were actively spying on these kids.
I've heard of more than one hacker installing remote webcam software on their laptops, to track it if it were lost or stolen. The commenters seem to think this is the same sort of thing. Obviously anyone who's been following this story, or has read that article carefully, knows there's a whole bunch of legal and moral issues involved, but it's easy to get the impression from casually reading the article that it was simply a matter of tracking stolen property.
Can someone make the title a little more grammatical? It's not really a sentence and it doesn't make sense unless you already know what it's referring to.
Titles have to be 80 characters or less. Plenty of times it takes more than that to make a title more 'grammatical', so bits are sacrificed to fit the limit.
I continue to be amazed that people are not more outraged about this. While there is some outrage and certainly charges will be filed, in general the public's opinion of their right to privacy and anonymity has shifted by orders of magnitude in the last 20 years.
There are a number of facts that I can almost guarantee that anyone not outraged probably aren't aware of - I will list only a few because anyone who doesn't do research before posting or reading posts for opinions is kind of hopeless.
1. Students were required to use these laptops for their coursework - in class and at home. No laptop - no going to class.
2. Despite the software being designed to track stolen property. The school district pursued a student for eating candy (drug suspicion) while is laptop had not been stolen. The software company has come out against the school and disabled the functionality the school used.
3. There's a video on youtube showing a systems administrator messing with the students on the laptops while in school (reading over their shoulders and what not). Keep in mind these are mandatory for classes.
[+] [-] CWuestefeld|16 years ago|reply
Too often, it seems, a news story outrages us, but the furor quickly dies down. In the end, nobody even notices the ritual scapegoat.
A little while back, somebody proposed here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1183587 ) a web app that would allow us to follow a news story entire life. This reminds of that, and why it would be a good idea.
[+] [-] redrobot5050|16 years ago|reply
However, it was not clear in initial reports if the student had actually done something and was spied on, or if he had taken pictures and shared them in school. Some schools have policies where students can be disciplined for violations off school grounds in instances of bullying or disseminating "ssext messages" from their peers. It was not clear, from the reporting, if this was the case.
The fact that the media is now reporting the facts, and the schools thought it was actually a good idea to spy on high school students in their own homes, shows a kind of unparalleled stupidity in both a legal standpoint and technological one.
Also, considering the statistic on how many children of the ages 14-18 "sext" one another, this software, the school's servers, the IT staff and the administrators could all be considered to be part of a child pornography network, if in fact any of those kids decided to "privately model" for another student using their laptop. Aside from the civil aspect of it, I would be contacting my state's AG to investigate whether or not any of those laws were broken.
[+] [-] froo|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vinhboy|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blantonl|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lallysingh|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pyre|16 years ago|reply
I will always hate that phrase, because it's one of the phrases my dad used to 'prove' that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.
[+] [-] imgabe|16 years ago|reply
This is puzzling. First of all, if he didn't pay the fee, why did he even have access to it to take it home? Secondly, if you already know where the laptop is and who has it, what's the point of turning on the camera? (Other than to satisfy your penchant for voyeurism)
[+] [-] ssouth|16 years ago|reply
I've thought for years that parents place far too much trust in public-school staff.
[+] [-] nkohari|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cubicle67|16 years ago|reply
oh, and the past tense of shine is shone :)
[+] [-] Freebytes|16 years ago|reply
In this particular case, it is stupid for the school system to even implement this policy in the first place. There are multiple issues with this other than the spying aspect.
(1) Why is the school letting the kids use laptops in the first place? What is wrong with desktop machines that are cheaper that stay at the school? Is there really a significant advantage given to learning or is it worth it to the taxpayer? I highly doubt a positive correlation exists between computer use and higher grades.
(2) They could simply have installed other tracking software or reported the IP address back to a server have the laptops found if stolen. They could have required some form of collateral or payment if a student lost a laptop or if the laptop was stolen. It does not make sense to justify such a method of tracking when other (better) solutions exist.
(3) The system was only 'activated' 42* times, but it took thousands of pictures? You only need one picture to identify someone. They were actively spying on these kids.
[+] [-] cynicalkane|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fname|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LiveTheDream|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cperciva|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Qz|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanielBMarkham|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boyer|16 years ago|reply
1. Students were required to use these laptops for their coursework - in class and at home. No laptop - no going to class.
2. Despite the software being designed to track stolen property. The school district pursued a student for eating candy (drug suspicion) while is laptop had not been stolen. The software company has come out against the school and disabled the functionality the school used.
3. There's a video on youtube showing a systems administrator messing with the students on the laptops while in school (reading over their shoulders and what not). Keep in mind these are mandatory for classes.