WTmotherF

What is important is to dwell upon the increasing evidence of the existence of a secret conspiracy, throughout the world, for the destruction of organized government and the letting loose of evil 

they musta saw that kid killing all those innocent kittens. 

And this is why I don't have a webcam. 

InB4 this goes to 209 posts of two people who don't realize that arguing on the internet never goes anywhere and never accomplishes anything. 

At least the school claims their doing it for a legitimate reason. 

gajillion said:

At least the school claims their doing it for a legitimate reason.

they're maybe? Someone should have spied on me in English class. 

Reminds me of the internal webcams implemented without notification onto digital cable boxes when people were switching to the digital conversion last year.

Rumors were someone had found cameras inside, though no one could figure out why they'd be there. I know some sites online had taken a few apart and verified the rumor (I'll have to follow up with links later on).

Conspiracy theorists were in an uproar that the government could use the cameras to spy on individuals with the patriot act unknown to the target. 

I AM OUTRAGED!!! 

Marzz said:

And this is why I don't have a webcam.

Or so you think.
/watching you eat your boogers 

RandallFlagg said:

Reminds me of the internal webcams implemented without notification onto digital cable boxes when people were switching to the digital conversion last year..

I'd like to see verification of that- I know several were hoaxes. 

I'm really curious about two things

a) what exactly qualifies 'improper behaviour in their home', that sounds like it could be anything from plagiarism to nailing the principals daughter

b) how that conversation went when they sat the kid down:
"Bobby, we know you blahblahblah."
"You can't prove that!"
"HA, jokes on you, we saw you do it by remotely activating your webcam using software we placed on your laptop without your knowledge. Sooo busted you little punk!"
"Uhhhh.....WHAT?" 

RandallFlagg said:

Reminds me of the internal webcams implemented without notification onto digital cable boxes when people were switching to the digital conversion last year.

Rumors were someone had found cameras inside, though no one could figure out why they'd be there. I know some sites online had taken a few apart and verified the rumor (I'll have to follow up with links later on).

Conspiracy theorists were in an uproar that the government could use the cameras to spy on individuals with the patriot act unknown to the target.

That was a hoax. Man, some people really are gullible. 

Back when I was in school...in our locker room, there was a mural painted on the wall with huge ass letters that said "GO FOR IT!"

They need to adopt this attitude. 

airdrummer said:

ass letters

lol 

"... AND THE HOOOOOOME OF THE BRAVE!@!!!@!!#!" 

Usually I'd make some joke about it, but I think there should be a whole fuck ton of people throw in jail for this. 

Interesting, I'm actually reading the book 1984 by George Orwell right now. That makes this story extra creepy! 

Spy on underage kids at home? There's an app for that. 

thelaw said:

Spy on underage kids at home? There's an app for that.

Just make sure you don't fapp to that. 

gajillion said:

At least the school claims their doing it for a legitimate reason.

There is no legitimate reason to video tape a child in the privacy of their own home without their knowledge, unless you know of a place where child pornography is legitimate. 

I think the school made child pornography. 

Here's a thought.

Make a law requiring all web cams to have a "recording" light, making it impossible for someone to not know the camera is on.

I'm pretty sure all logitech quickcams already do this. 

The only quasi-legitimate reason they could have had to be able to remote-access the laptops is if someone stole one, and the webcam could identify the thief; but even that isn't reason enough.

This? This is what happens when people stop paying attention to those they put into a position of authority. I bet there's gonna be a lot of changeover on that school board. 

Socket7 said:

Here's a thought.

Make a law requiring all web cams to have a "recording" light, making it impossible for someone to not know the camera is on.

I'm pretty sure all logitech quickcams already do this.

The webcams in all the Macbooks do this. I've looked for ways to turn it off so it's a little more effective as an element of a security system, but I haven't had any luck. 

This is practically nothing.

As bad as this story and everything else big-brother related in the U.S. news is
lately... it still pales in comparison to what the gubment gets away with in jolly old
England each and every day, and have been for many many years.

For us, this is just the beginning.

We'll know when it's gotten really bad when we start seeing headlines in U.S.
papers about people in the U.S. being jailed and prosecuted for 'injuring' a burglar
or some other felonious criminal while protecting their family and/or property. 

What are you talking about? 

Stealthmode said:

Just make sure you don't fapp to that.

But seriously, can you imagine that access in the wrong hands? Or rather wrong..-er hands, since whoever cooked that little gem of a policy up is already deficient of something. Conceivably someone who was aware of the software could have recorded ALLLLL those kids changing and whatever.

I sincerely hope their PTA, or the parents themselves GANGFIST everyone who ok'd that decision. Who the fuck thought it would go over well? *Obviously* people would find out and be like o hai WTF. 

Jelly Box said:

I think the school made child pornography.

In all likelyhood, they probably did. It's not like they would know when a kid was gonna get up to shit (what are they gonna say "oh we found a note in the trash, 'Tonight at 8:25 I'm going to plagiarize in an essay teehee' -Bobby Problemchild") so presumably they would have to watch them for a while. Even if they only watched the troublemakers you're still watching kids in their private residence without their knowledge, for the most part while they're not doing anything!

GAH! The more I think about this the more it upsets me. What does a highschool kid do in their own home that's "inappropriate"?! I can't think of a middle ground between shit-no-one-cares-about, and shit-you-get-arrested-for, that a school would call you out for as being "inappropriate". 

Stickam? 

Whoever did this is a moron, for two reasons:

1) you don't do this kind of shit. It is illegal. You will go to jail.

2) They outed themselves. When you present evidence to a kid that they were smokin' a doobie, obviously taken from where the computer was, they're going to put two and two together. The kid is going to know that the school is spying on them. Word is going to get around. The principal just screwed themself. 

mediaphile said:

The webcams in all the Macbooks do this. I've looked for ways to turn it off so it's a little more effective as an element of a security system, but I haven't had any luck.

Did you ever try tape colored the same as the laptop right over the indicator light? 

winner of fail said:

Did you ever try tape colored the same as the laptop right over the indicator light?

Well yeah, I guess I could do that if I felt like putting sticky silver tape on my MBP, but I'd rather not do that. It was just a fleeting fancy, anyway, more important when I was still in school than it is now. 

RandallFlagg said:

Reminds me of the internal webcams implemented without notification onto digital cable boxes when people were switching to the digital conversion last year.

Rumors were someone had found cameras inside, though no one could figure out why they'd be there. I know some sites online had taken a few apart and verified the rumor (I'll have to follow up with links later on).

Conspiracy theorists were in an uproar that the government could use the cameras to spy on individuals with the patriot act unknown to the target.

This was only debunked about 80000x, do you access the internet once every three years? 

having an opinion about newsworthy isolated incidents in a nation of 300 million is just plain fashionable! I'm putting together a Powerpoint. 

Or you could live in seclusion... Pretend you don't exist.

The facts of the case say that an administrator looked in on a camera, and said a boy had pills in his hand, and from that inferred that he was a drug dealer. The family says he had a handful of mike and ikes, and was nom'ing. The picture was what set this all off, so we will see soon enough, blurred face to be expected. It is this direct case that sets the whole precedent for all inference into their intentions with this setup though, so we will def see more.

I can totally see school administrators seeing a handful of neon blue pink green and yellow capsule shaped candies and thinking drugs, but that's not the issue, its their reason for looking at that particular time at that particular pc. Did they have a reason to look? 

Well... technically it was legal only if the laptops were reported stolen. Otherwise it's breach of privacy and EULA. 

This is the moment in which I throw this back in the faces of all those pro-expansion-of-surveillance people: If they weren't doing anything wrong, they have nothing to fear.

Now all you vapid little robots know what the rest of us are concerned about. 

winddelay said:

Or you could live in seclusion... Pretend you don't exist.

"The facts of the case say ..."

Do tell? If so I'm with you.

 

jeezz, i', terrible at antyhing lately 

http://news.yahoo.com said:

The suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges that Harriton vice principal Lindy Matsko on Nov. 11 cited a laptop photo in telling Blake that the school thought he was engaging in improper behavior. He and his family have told reporters that an official mistook a piece of candy for a pill and thought he was selling drugs.

If that's true they were watching a large volume of videos in great detail. 

Realistically, there is shit that I do, that I don't want video taped, that is perfectly legal. This is crazy, like Completely bat shit fucking crazy, if I was one of their parents I would raise a shit storm over this. It's sooo fucking illegal. It's just like it's illegal to record someone without their permission. This makes me crazy upset. The principal should get jail time 

Uhm, where I live schools have no damn business with what kids do outside the school, unless they are right outside the schoolgate at the end of a schoolday.

This is some f*cked up shit and whoever came up with the idea should be fired, at the least. 

It astounds me that there was probably a room a people that actually agreed to this surveillance, and no one spoke up about how crazy and weird it was. 

its impossible to be wrong as long as you deny everything they can't prove and rationalize everything they can. 

haha, the school district's legal counsel is probably going after those administrators with a hatchet.

If the laptop wasn't reported stolen I wonder what justification they have for activating the webcam. 

"We saw you writing on your desk with a green marker, so for you, the thumbscrews" (maniacal laughter). 

haha, the school district's legal counsel is probably going after those administrators with a hatchet.

I really hope no government funds are provided for their legal defence. 

Deathcap said:

Realistically, there is shit that I do, that I don't want video taped, that is perfectly legal. This is crazy, like Completely bat shit fucking crazy, if I was one of their parents I would raise a shit storm over this. It's sooo fucking illegal. It's just like it's illegal to record someone without their permission. This makes me crazy upset. The principal should get jail time

Actually, that's not true across the board. I know in TX that you only need the consent of one of the parties being recorded, and technically that party can be you. So if I want to go out and record a conversation with someone, as long as I have my own consent, I don't need to tell them.

That being said, the case in point here falls under different circumstances, obviously. As a photographer, I cannot take photos of you if you have "a reasonable expectation of privacy", which you obviously do in your own home. I would think this laptop fiasco likely falls under that aspect of the law, which makes it pretty blatantly illegal.
Beyond that, this is some morally reprehensible Big Brother bullshit, right here. I just can't believe that the question of motive/reasonable doubt/etc was never raised by anyone in the administration at this school. How fucking ignorant of privacy rights and search/seizure laws do you have to be to think that this little program was in any way a good idea??!?!
Bitches need to get fired for this. If they realized the ways in which it might be wrong and did it anyway, then they lack the character I would hope a school district wants in its employees and need to be fired. If they were so stupid as to not realize what was wrong with this plan, then they obviously aren't intelligent enough to handle the levels of responsibility that are required of school employees and need to be fired.

To sum up, unfuckingbelieveable.