School laptop spycams

A new twist on fearsome digital media came from Philadelphia last week, where a lawsuit alleged that a local school used laptops to spy on students at home.   

Here at Infocult the Lower Merion story is fascinating.  It combines several aspects of cyberanxieties: surveillance, children (or minors), crime, and domestic space.

As of this writing, the story stands like so: parents of children attending the Lower Merion high school have filed a lawsuit (embedded below), describing a laptop surveillance practice.  Allegedly school authorities use laptop cameras to look back at students, be they on campus or at home.

Unbeknownst to Plaintiffs and the members of the Class, and without their authorization, Defendants have been spying on the activities of Plaintiffs and Class members by Defendants' indiscriminant use of and ability to remotely activate the webcams incorporated into each laptop issued to students by the School District.

The Lower Merion district responded by arguing that remote activation was "only" to keep track of stolen machines.  "The District never activated the security feature for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever."  Activated about 42 times, according to one report.  The FBI is apparently starting to consider it all.

This isn't the only case of this sort of thing.  As others have pointed out, the recent PBS Frontline program on kids and technology shows another school using networked laptops to see what students are doing.  How many other schools are frantically turning down their programs?  We watch the machines, while someone watches us through them - there's a nice 1984 telescreen reference waiting to be made.

How many fears come together in this - well, story isn't the right word.  "Movement" might be better.  In the school spycam movement, which anxieties appear?  A first list, each point overlapping others:

• Fears of minors misbehaving, usually sexual.  While the example cited concerns drugs (maybe), the looking subtext is of teens' bodies.   Example: "I just received an e-mail from my daughter, who's very upset, saying, 'Mom, I have that laptop open all the time in my bedroom, even when I'm changing.'"
• Fears of adults sexually misbehaving with minors.  The child porn meme is also in play, as Reason notes.
• Concerns about being surveilled.
• Fears of domestic space being violated (one key point is that these laptops could be remotely activated by the school when the machines were at home, not just on campus).
• Drug war panics.  The leading story seems to turn on a boy accused of holding drugs, which turned out to be candy (!).

At a different level, perhaps not one of fear but critique, is a concern about what this means for the students as learners.  As Stephen Downes writes, "I wonder what lessons we teach kinds when we spy on them through their own computer webcam."

The laptops themselves aren't attracting a lot of fear attention.  Are they all Macs?

One parent offers this spooked thought, in that Mainline story linked above:

whenever you're putting a laptop in a kid's hands, that's dangerous... you always need to be concerned about a laptop

Robbins vs. LMSD

(thanks to Laura, Annette, Jesse, Randy, Cole, and everyone; photo by Shenghung Lin)

Comments

[Andy Havens]

My biggest concern about this story is that people this dumb are in charge of an educational program. What part of "spying on our kids through notebook cameras without getting prior permission" seemed like a good idea to the administration? Evil is one thing... sure, I oppose evil. But this is just dumb-to-the-dumb power.

[Steve B]

"The laptops themselves aren't attracting a lot of fear attention. Are they all Macs?"

I presume so, from the following line in this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100219/ap_on_hi_te/us_laptops_spying_on_students

"Lower Merion, an affluent district in Philadelphia's suburbs, issues Apple laptops to all 2,300 students at its two high schools."

[Bryan Alexander]

I wish I knew, @Andy. I can imagine all kinds of reasons, but there isn't enough information out there (yet) about the players.

I wonder, @Steve_B, how the coverage would have played differently if they'd been Windows machines. "Ah, typical Redmond!"

[Ernesto Reyes]

I hope this issue will be resolved the soonest. An implementation of this spycams is useful but at some point may be intrusive to others.

[helen]

spying may be good for movies but not personally! its against human right.
simple as that.

[Tech Blog]

I just wondered after reading this.!! Great Job!! :)