Lower Merion Webcam Case In Court Today

By PW Staff
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Feb. 22, 2010

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MyFoxPhilly reports that plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Lower Merion school district are asking a judge to order officials to disable the webcam security system on laptops the district issues to students. "The lawsuit alleges a Harriton assistant principal used a webcam photo as evidence to discipline sophomore Blake Robbins for "improper behavior." The school district claims it only used the webcam to snap still images of a laptop user if the computer had been reported lost or stolen. Meanwhile, Robbins family attorney Mark Haltzman says he's looking for other families to the join the invasion of privacy lawsuit. "Absolutely," Haltzman said. "Absolutely, we've heard from a lot of parents." The district's posting reports 42 occasions on which the webcam was activated to track lost, missing or stolen laptops, and 18 laptops were recovered. The district has also acknowledged that parents and students were not previously informed about the laptop tracking program and has apologized."

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1. Anonymous said... on Feb 22, 2010 at 10:51AM

“Almost all of the school districts in the Phila. area have been using "spy" technology since at least the year 2005, and some, like the Upper Darby School District, since 2003. It's the best-kept secret in education...”

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