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Possession of a monitored Macbook was required for classes
Possession of an unmonitored personal computer was forbidden and would be confiscated
Disabling the camera was impossible
Jailbreaking a school laptop in order to secure it or monitor it against intrusion was an offense which merited expulsion
The quotes from the kids make my skin crawl. That school knew exactly what they were doing for a long, long time. I hope they all go to prison. If parents decide to sue, that school will be out of business.
The quotes from the kids make my skin crawl. That school knew exactly what they were doing for a long, long time. I hope they all go to prison. If parents decide to sue, that school will be out of business.
Exactly. And the spyware was deliberately installed separate from the Apple system itself, totally hidden and undetectable and pretested in a teacher's classroom capturing multiple photos. They knew exactly what they were doing and it is inexcusable. I don't understand why there is not more outrage about this. Tiger Woods' antics get more coverage.
Exactly. And the spyware was deliberately installed separate from the Apple system itself, totally hidden and undetectable and pretested in a teacher's classroom capturing multiple photos. They knew exactly what they were doing and it is inexcusable. I don't understand why there is not more outrage about this. Tiger Woods' antics get more coverage.
The "justification" if-you-will being security. Herein lies the problem IMO.
When people allow things of this nature to happen under the guise of security and peace of mind, there are no common sense controls which allow anyone else (whose ulterior motives may be less than stellar) from doing the same thing.
People who design and implement these things really need to use their "critical thinking skills" to see that this would cause a firestorm of controversy, and furthermore, be a complete trump of anyone's right to privacy in their own homes. This is really "not good" people.
It's one thing for a recently-graduated person not to not know the geographical location of the Eiffel Tower (bad enough) but it's quite another not to know how the United States idea of "freedom" is supposed to work. That is astonishingly unacceptable to me.
According to my friend the former school board member, our school did not install the required software for the webcam because the very sage thought at the time, was that kids should NOT under any circumstances, have access to a webcam period (much less on a required piece of equipment).
Needless to say, I'll be verifying that personally myself next year if I should allow the thing through the threshold of my door in the first place.
so many people in education are arrogant and refuse to believe that anything they do is wrong--
they went into education because it allowed them to become kings and queens of minor kingdoms--
good luck with getting them to give up their power
the idea that this was done with PUBLIC money--that the people they were spying on PAID for that invasion with their tax dollars is just mindboggling
but that is what the American people did by electing George (the idiot) Bush and Dick (the dark lord) Cheney and turning off the brain between their ears for the next 7 years...
the tech at the school district I bet has some very sick porn hidden away and was adding to his store from what he scammed from the lap tops...
sick, sick, sick
why this is not on national news and all the pseudo conservative shows like Rush Limbaugh--this is really an invasion of privacy--but I really have not heard anything about it
even on the liberal rant side either...
plus--just logically--I am sure there was a clause in the agreement parents signed stating that if a computer was "lost or stolen" the parents were held responsible for the value of the computer...
I mean if you check out a library book or a text book from a school and lose it --you pay for the book or you don't get your grades/transcript/report card...
so what was it so necessary to install that monitoring system--you don't need a web cam--just a GPS signal sender...
fishy, fishy...
Last edited by loves2read; 02-27-2010 at 12:07 AM..
For those who believe this "spying" was justified in order to recover stolen laptops: How would you feel if unbeknown to you, your insurance company installed hidden cameras in your car or your home in order to help "recover" stolen items??? Is there really ANYBODY out there that would be fine with this??? And, I agree, WHY isn't this getting more news coverage?
actually many cars DO have a sort of spy on board--there is some sort of electronic brain which records the acceleration record of a car's driving for X miles--don't know if it is for all miles driven or for the past 100 or something shorter
BUT it can be recovered and use in cases were insurance companies want to show that someone filing a claim may have exceeded the speed limit or failed to brake in time--which might indicate use of alcohol/drugs
apparently this is something direct from the factory--not an add-on device like Lo-jak and people don't know that their car is capable of being turned into a silent witness...
actually many cars DO have a sort of spy on board--there is some sort of electronic brain which records the acceleration record of a car's driving for X miles--don't know if it is for all miles driven or for the past 100 or something shorter
BUT it can be recovered and use in cases were insurance companies want to show that someone filing a claim may have exceeded the speed limit or failed to brake in time--which might indicate use of alcohol/drugs
apparently this is something direct from the factory--not an add-on device like Lo-jak and people don't know that their car is capable of being turned into a silent witness...
Hmmm. Interesting. But this is still not the same as a camera taking "photos" of you. Totally different. Totally unacceptable! Don't you agree?
And, I agree, WHY isn't this getting more news coverage?
It was the focus on NPR's "All Things Considered" (I think, if not that, one of their other major programs) within the past week. NPR is the only news source I really bother with.
That school is being sued. Some of the girls are saying they had those things all the time and in their rooms while they changed their clothes and slept.
What an invasion of privacy.
There are no words to describe how I would feel had this been in my daughter's school.
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