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School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

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Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#21
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the law that different? I know that in Germany it's quite hard to demonstrate that you have claims against the parents if their child damages something. You basically have to demonstrate that the parents really screwed up. If not, you are on your own. In Germany parents are most definitly not responsible for everything their child does. And I never said that children have or should have the same rights as grown-up…

If you need a court system to determine whether it's necessary or justified you are doing something wrong. There is a large prejudice to leaving kids and parents to work out their own problems. Therefore in practice it's all up to parent to determine how everybody's rights are to be balanced. And that's the way it should be -- parents are supposed to be training their children to uphold their values, culture, and lif…

As I said and repeated and really like to repeat here again: children should have limited rights and they actually do have limited rights in Germany. Spying is ok. Reading their E-Mails and going through their drawers is ok. But only up to a point. The parents just cannot limit their rights without limits.

I'm also not really sure why courts should not decide what's necessary and justified. That's all we ever did in our cases in the introductory course on public law and basic rights. (Basic rights in Germany have an influence on how courts have to decide in civil cases - just before anybody says anything about this being only the case in public law, i.e. citizen-state relationships, not citizen-citizen relationships)

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#22
The real question is: where is the criminal investigation?

This breaks so many laws it's not funny.

And the kid originally being disciplined at school for something he did at home.

It's the first time for a while news like this has made me feel physically sick! Lock them up :(

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#23
post #8

This takes things one giant leap further, but my cousin in high school already has his personal email and home web browsing read by a team of school monitors, thanks to the provision of a laptop by his public high school. Of course, his parents are unlikely to buy him his own laptop since he's already got one, so what does he need another one for?

That's a violation of various computer misuse laws. Get him to file a police complaint.

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#24
post #22

The real question is: where is the criminal investigation? This breaks so many laws it's not funny. And the kid originally being disciplined at school for something he did at home . It's the first time for a while news like this has made me feel physically sick! Lock them up :(

This was the first thing I was asking myself too.

AFAIK only a limited group of people is allowed to do such a thing (law enforcement) and only if the have a court warrant for it.

If they really pulled this off, then they are in very deep shit..

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#25
This was part of a program on PBS called Digital Nation. The show was very interesting, and there's a section where the school IT administrator demonstrates his ability to pull up a students laptop ... and working webcam.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/learni...

The relevant part starts at about 4:35. "They don't even realize that we are watching. I always like to mess with them and take a picture."

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#26
I knew some folks who worked at a neighboring school district and while laptops never went home with the children, Remote Desktop screen caps of the sleazy superintendent engaged in affairs with teachers and potential new hires were taken. From the stories I hear, the administration in most PA public school systems is disgustingly corrupt.

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#27
post #8

This takes things one giant leap further, but my cousin in high school already has his personal email and home web browsing read by a team of school monitors, thanks to the provision of a laptop by his public high school. Of course, his parents are unlikely to buy him his own laptop since he's already got one, so what does he need another one for?

You should make him an Ubuntu Live CD/USB for home use.

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's stopping him from buying his own laptop?

Money. Students in high school may not have enough money to buy a laptop.

Go mow some lawns for a couple weeks... A few hundred dollars isn't all that hard to come by.

Re: School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

#29
post #22

The real question is: where is the criminal investigation? This breaks so many laws it's not funny. And the kid originally being disciplined at school for something he did at home . It's the first time for a while news like this has made me feel physically sick! Lock them up :(

> And the kid originally being disciplined at school for something he did at home.

This is pretty standard practice. Schools have all kinds of 'code of conduct' things that can get you in trouble for things that didn't happen on school grounds.

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