Is Big Brother giving our schools the OK to be Big Brother
too?
IT LOOKS LIKE PROSECUTORS are not going to get involved in the bizarre case of the school which switched on laptops to spy on students while they were in their own bedrooms.
US Attorney Zane David Memeger told USA Today, investigators had found no evidence of criminal intent by Lower Merion School District employees who activated tracking software that took thousands of webcam and screenshot images on school-provided laptops
.
A student and his family sued the district in February, claiming officials invaded his privacy by activating the software and the civil case is ongoing.
The school has admitted that it captured 56,000 screen shots and webcam images mostly so it could find missing student laptops. But in the case of this student the school appears to have been using the laptops to investigate home drug use.
By saying that the school was not "criminal" the prosecutors are not implying that the outfit was right. However it does mean that schools do not have to be worried about being locked up for spying on their students using this method.
It also says that breaches of privacy that are not carried out for "bad reasons" is OK in the United States. So if you are a company that wants to watch what its employees get up to in their home in case they might be taking corporate secrets, that is OK one imagines.
You could still be sued if the employee finds out, but it is not criminal. One wonders then if HP
should ever have gone down for the pre-texting scandal or are schools allowed to do what they like?
You can find the background on this disturbing story here and here.
Article by Nick Farrel, Inquirer.net
too?IT LOOKS LIKE PROSECUTORS are not going to get involved in the bizarre case of the school which switched on laptops to spy on students while they were in their own bedrooms.
US Attorney Zane David Memeger told USA Today, investigators had found no evidence of criminal intent by Lower Merion School District employees who activated tracking software that took thousands of webcam and screenshot images on school-provided laptops
.A student and his family sued the district in February, claiming officials invaded his privacy by activating the software and the civil case is ongoing.
The school has admitted that it captured 56,000 screen shots and webcam images mostly so it could find missing student laptops. But in the case of this student the school appears to have been using the laptops to investigate home drug use.
By saying that the school was not "criminal" the prosecutors are not implying that the outfit was right. However it does mean that schools do not have to be worried about being locked up for spying on their students using this method.
It also says that breaches of privacy that are not carried out for "bad reasons" is OK in the United States. So if you are a company that wants to watch what its employees get up to in their home in case they might be taking corporate secrets, that is OK one imagines.
You could still be sued if the employee finds out, but it is not criminal. One wonders then if HP
should ever have gone down for the pre-texting scandal or are schools allowed to do what they like?You can find the background on this disturbing story here and here.
Article by Nick Farrel, Inquirer.net
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