High school uses notebook webcams to spy on students

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burty, you said 'because it has nothing to do with me! I am there to fix the issue not to look at naked pictures of the user or their ilegal Child porn collection.'

Sorry, but it has indeed something to do with you. You are legally bound to inform the police of any child porn found on a computer, as not to do so means allowing the computer owner to continue with his illegal activities and puts more children in danger. I realise at 17 you maybe didn't know this, but your employer should have made this clear to you. Next time you find child porn on anyone's computer, report it either directly to the police or to your boss who can then get in contact with the police on your behalf. Everyone must fight against child abuse of any kind, wherever they come across it. If you ignore it, what does that say about you? I'm sure you don't wish children to suffer in this way, so please don't ignore material like this is future.

About the school business - yes, a horrible thought for anyone that they may have been spied on in their own room at home, maybe in a state of undress. This isn't something to make light of, it's a very nasty and serious situation. The school may protest that they were doing nothing wrong, but they were and I'm not surprised legal action is being taken against them. This was a violation of privacy and was totally inexcusable.
 
I can't believe that some people think that it's ok for the school to use the camera if the school notices the user doing something on it they aren't supposed to. Just because you notice a student looking at porn or looking at "how to build a bomb", that gives no excuse for using the webcam. It is still illegal even if the student is doing illegal activity.

If the school is remotely connected viewing just the screen and they see the student doing something bad or illegal, they can just do a screen cap and they're good to go.

Now I realize the SLIGHT problem here. "What if the laptop was stolen?" Well, it's the students responsibility to report it immediately. The reason this is a SLIGHT problem is because some students may not report right away if they think they just misplaced it or left it at school.

This happened at a college a friend of mine went to:
A student had left a school issued laptop in the computer lab. By the time he realized it and went back, the laptop was gone. He immediately called the police and put in a report. It was a good thing he did because someone used the laptop that night to attempt to hack into the school's security cameras. Had the student not put filed a stolen laptop report, he would have been the suspect. The "I don't have it because i think it's been stolen" excuse will NOT work. The laptop could have easily been stashed away.
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Now the school has the right to monitor what's going on on the screen as the laptop is a school issued laptop and they have every right to see what's going on. What they DON'T have the right to do without a signed consent is to activate the web cam. At that point they are now invading personal privacy by looking inside another person's home.

To the person that said "it belongs to the school they can do with it what they want"...you're telling me that because it's theirs they can perform illegal activity? Yeah, let's see that pass before a judge.
 
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