School accused of spying on students via laptop webcams in lawsuit

A high school student and his parents have filed a lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Philadelphia. The lawsuit accused the school district of spying on students and family by "indiscriminate use of and ability to remotely activate the Webcams incorporated into each laptop issued to students by the School District."

The case revolves around laptops that were given out as part of a state- and federally-funded initiative which saw 1,800 students from the district's two high schools as recipients. The issue came to light after the son of parents Michael and Holly Robbins of Penn Valley, Pa. was accused by a school official of "improper behavior in his home" and shown a snapshot taken by his laptop as proof.

Upon approaching an assistant principal, it was verified that the claims were true. The lawsuit stated "that the school district in fact has the ability to remotely activate the Webcam contained in a student's personal laptop computer issued by the school district at any time it chose and to view and capture whatever images were in front of the Webcam, all without the knowledge, permission or authorization of any persons then and there using the laptop computer."

In a separate report, Lower Merion School District officials said that the laptops "contain a security feature intended to track lost, stolen and missing laptops." The officials further added that the feature was deactivated Thursday, and would not be reactivated "without written notification to all students and families."

For now, angry students are already applying tape on their laptop cameras and microphones.  The Robbins family is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and an injunction from the school district activating the laptop cameras.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out this article at The Seattle Times 

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