US school comes out fighting over webcam spy claim

John Ozimek
The Register
February 19, 2010

The UK agency in charge of IT in UK schools has insisted there is no chance of the government’s free laptops program exposing the bedroom activities of British students.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

The proud boast of Lower Merrion School District in Philadelphia is that it gives every one of their 1,800 high-schoolers laptop computers, to “ensure that all students have 24/7 access to school-based resources.”

The catch – which isn’t even mentioned in the small print – is that whilst pupils are watching their laptops, their school may be watching them. This rather sinister twist to the tale came to light when the parents of student Blake Robbins were told by an official of Harriton High School last November that their son had been involved in “improper behavior in his home.”

What startled and then outraged Blake’s parents was the evidence provided: a photo of their son engaged in the “improper behaviour” cited, taken not on any friend’s camera – but by the webcam on the free school laptop.

READ FULL ARTICLE

This article was posted: Friday, February 19, 2010 at 3:52 pm

---

---

---

---