Not what you think. Eugene Volokh has some pretty good coverage of the spying incident where school officials are alleged to have spied on students at home using laptop cameras. Apparently the School District is claiming the feature of activating the cameras was only in case the laptop was reported “Lost to Stolen.” Â I guess law abiding gun owners aren’t the only people who are being victimized by this issue:
pon a report of a suspected lost, stolen or missing laptop, the feature was activated by the District’s security and technology departments. The tracking-security feature was limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator’s screen. This feature has only been used for the limited purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. The District has not used the tracking feature or web cam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever.…
I guess we’ll find out in court.
UPDATE: Orin Kerr takes a detailed look at the legal issues.
Where’s the rebel in these kids. This is perfect for protest. Get a bunch of “Lower Merion web cam girl/boy” t-shirts made up and patrol the mall. Put the schools website on the back.
Pipe the Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” into the PA system.
I’ve been out of school a long time but even my lame high school wouldn’t let this pass without taking advantage.
And the District better hope no one activated the cams unofficially or they are toast. Probably even if the malware was hacked by an outsider as well.