42 Grows To 1,000s Of Web Cam Images In The Lower Merion School District Case
When this story first broke (background here) the School District was adamant about the number of times they activated the web cam. Once would have been one time too many for me, but they kept repeating the number 42.
District spokesman Doug Young acknowledged yesterday that officials had remotely activated computer webcams 42 times, but only in an attempt to recover missing or stolen laptops, and never to spy on students. He said families had not been notified about the possibility that the cameras on the 2,300 laptops could be activated in their homes without their permission.
Looks like that number was on the low end.
The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district.
More than once, the motion asserts, a laptop camera took photos of Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins as he slept in his bed.
And according to the emails published in the article it appears certain adults were enjoying this show more than the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into “a little LMSD soap opera,” a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program.
“I know, I love it,” she is quoted as having replied.
Cafiero has taken the fifth.
The Lower Merion School District today acknowledged that investigators reviewing its controversial laptop tracking program have recovered “a substantial number of webcam photos” and that they expect to soon start notifying parents whose children were photographed.
start notifying parents whose children were photographed
I’m guessing this story is about to get bigger, and heads are going to roll… as they should.
Tags: Education
The district is still saying the employees did nothing wrong. I can’t believe they’re still saying that – they were taking pictures of students in the privacy of their own rooms and looking at the pictures. I’ll bet there will be a bunch of firings and resignations before this is through, hopefully all the adults that were viewing the pictures of students at home.
Glenn Beck dethroned Rush as the wingnut leader by being even more rightwing than Rush, and it worked. Makes you wonder, who is going to dethrone Beck?
Oops, guess I posted in wrong thread. Oh well.
anon, if you want just repost your comment in the thread you wanted it in and I will erase this one.
I have to wonder if (or how many) of those photos are of the students (un)dressed. I am very curious to see if any charges of child pornography come out of this. 1000’s of images-kinda hard to take that many photos in a kids bedroom and never get a photo that would get you locked up. This should result in criminal charges-not just firings and lawsuits.
Given the emails exchanged between Cafiero and other employees, I’m expecting that there will be kiddie porn on more than a couple of computers belonging to the district and these employees. There will be criminal charges coming out of this — and there will be kids who will have significant increases in their college funds courtesy of the district taxpayers.
As they should, Moose.
This is such a violation and betrayal of trust. Those emails are disgusting, and if they’re true I hope there’s jail time (altho… I’m not sure there’s a law against this on the books).
Nice to agree on something.
By the way — did you get that email about the Social Studies standards I sent you and cassandra? It was quite sincere, and I hope you will take up my suggestion.
I got it, but I haven’t had time to really read it. It’s on my schedule. Thanks.