US school district spied on students through webcams

[Noreen]

A school district in Pennsylvania spied on students through web cameras installed on laptops provided by the district, according to a class action lawsuit filed this week.

Lower Merion school district, in a well-heeled suburb of Philadelphia, provided 2,300 high-school students with Mac laptops last autumn in what its superintendent, Christopher McGinley, described as an effort to establish a "mobile, 21st-century learning environment".

The scheme was funded with $720,000 (£468,000) in state grants and other sources. The students were not allowed to install video games and other software, and were barred from "commercial, illegal, unethical and inappropriate" use.

The district retained remote control of the built-in webcams installed on the computers – and used them to capture images of the students, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court this week.................

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams

[Rik]

Beware of Geeks bearing gifts?

[Simon]

Or, just beware of geeks. 

[Colin Burns]

 

[Glenn]

Beware of any webcams in your home

[Rik]

A small piece of black tape works wonders, I find.

[Tacitus]

A small piece of black tape works wonders, I find.

A 3.5mm jack plug in the microphone socket will also disconnect the internal mic   

[Rik]

Hi Tac