Spying school district update: remote webcam functionality disabled, two IT monkeys suspended
By Tim Stevens 
posted March 9th 2010 9:17AM
posted March 9th 2010 9:17AM
posted March 9th 2010 9:17AM
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Poor guys.
ITT: Things you do that you thought no one else does.
We may never know the truth, but at least we can now frolic naked in front of our MacBooks without fearing that dreaded green light.
"Are they the ones who went too far, or was it their managers who ordered them to do it and are now throwing their dutiful peons to the fire? "
I'll take the latter for $500, Alex.
@aubreyq
Yep. For some reason in this world, its always the IT dept's fault. And I bet the teacher that activated it still has a job.
@jimlivingston
Actually it did. IIRC, the guards were let off. It was the people that held power that had to reap what they sowed.
@aubreyq Yep, as an IT monkey myself, I have to go with the managers trying to save their asses by blaming the IT guys.
Those IT guys will have to use Chatroulette from now on. :)
@jimlivingston
Godwin sends his regards.
@Scouse Pricey Note ... "two IT employees were suspended," almost certainly means that they were doing some extra-curricular spying as well. If they were presumably just exercising their duties in accordance with their job, and taking directions from their supervisors, there would be no reason to suspend them would there?
Every school has their own policies for their student, but this one is quite absurd and getting out of hand. Another laptop spying case, but this time the school admits it. Story: http://bit.ly/school-spying-on-kids-worst
Actually, many of the guards have been convicted. http://hitlernews.cloudworth.com/nazi-death-camp-guards.php
Don't like WW2 references, how about Abu Ghraib? The bosses didn't go down did they? It was the guards.
Nobody gets away by saying his boss told him to do it. I served six years in the military. Even we are taught that if given an unlawful order, you have to decline it.
"We may never know the truth, but at least we can now frolic naked in front of our MacBooks without fearing that dreaded green light."
OR you can just put a piece of electrical tape over the camera and not care either.
@emax
Tape? On my shiny Macbook! Are you MAD!
@emax
If they saw me frolicking naked in front of my web cam, they'd be struck dumb and blind for the remainder of their lives. It'd serve them right.
Nothing like a fat, bald, pasty white guy to ruin your fun.
P.S. I apologize to those of you eating breakfast for the unpleasant visuals.
@emax
I party naked even when the green light is on.
@emax Yeah, my mom was worried about that happening and she ruined her camera. The tape residue still won't come off.
@vintoe
everyone knows that the green light means go for naked partying. dont they?
@vintoe Are you one of the chatroulette freaks?
I thought it was the teacher that was spying on the kid and confronted the kid about doing something they weren't supposed to.
@mnemonicj I'm not sure the original source I read it from named it a "teacher" but we could've read different stories, I actually thought it was an administrator but that could've been me choosing who to put in the role. Regardless, the information from an IT guy could've been shared with whomever (more likely an admin).
More importantly, the original school statement said things to the tone of "stolen property" and "good intentions", this web of lies is disintegrating, or more tangled.
@juanvaldez
yeah the story i read said it was an assistant principal who confronted the student about their "inappropriate behavior in the home", but it never said who actually accessed the camera (nobody's going to admit to that one at this point), i have a feeling if it was the IT guys who misused the cameras they would have simply been fired when caught, or we'd be hearing about a lawsuit against them, not the school district.
@juanvaldez . the version I saw about the whole thing was that the school requires students to have a school provided laptop (can't use their own) in class and if certain insurance fees are paid they can ttake it home also. said young man had been taking his laptop home but the fees were not paid. and apparently no one caught [the lack of payment] for possibly as long as a month. so thus he 'stole' the laptop from the school. they turned on the camera to see who had the laptop (instead of first calling his parents or such alt methods) and caught him 'doing drugs' and took a photo of it. When in fact he maintains and his parents back him up that he was eating candy.
And then they filed a suit because no where in any agreements did it say anything about the use of the cameras remotely for any reason.
And a number of other students have reported the camera light coming on when their laptops were not stolen and being told it was a random glitch with the light and that's all.
@waka187
No, that would never happen. Law school Rule #1: You go for the deep pockets, even if they were only tangentially associated. The IT guys are too poor, but the school district is attached to the deep pockets of the government (AKA the taxpayer).
frolicking naked right now!
@Wiggy Fuzz +10 strength / -100 charisma
Beware of geeks bearing gifts.
Quite interesting that the school was not using it for anything other than to locate stolen laptops, but now these IT guys are suspended.
Lets see. School claims that it only uses the cams to find stolen laptops, yet there was no indication the boys laptop was stolen. Then school claims its done nothing wrong yet, IT guys get suspended.
Yeah right. We're gonna see some interesting information come forward in the months to come.
Gee...didn't the school system say there were only two authorized users of this "feature"?
Guess their lawyers forgot to add the addendum "However, a number of unauthorized individuals could turn it on anytime they wanted.".
Boy, are they going to get sued...
Seriously? Those IT guys are getting canned for nothing I bet.
Hey follow these orders or you're fired I don't care if we're telling you to do something wrong...oh by the way you did something wrong so you're fired.
Rally around the IT guys! I will bet dollars to donuts that they had seen at least one picture of a minor in a state of undress or worse and that they kept at least one such picture. IT guy at a high school with such capability and had used it in a "drug related" case. I don't care who ordered them to spy on the kids, they were doing it. What the IT guys did was absolutely wrong. And you guys will be shocked when more comes out. It's unavoidable.
You can tell your cam is working since the light turns on.
"An update to the software, releasing this week, will disable the option for admins (or pervy IT workers) to remotely switch on a computer's webcam"
They actually had to release an update for this to be an 'option'?
@NHAnimator - Currently the functionality is in the software suite. You can, if you so wish, remotely turn on the iSight.
With the forthcoming update there will be NO ability to remotely turn on the iSight whatsoever. LANrev is simply removing this entire feature from it's suite, which IMO, is ridiculous.
Just for the record the IT workers on paid leave, likely until the storm passes. Don't believe they will be canned but just a guess. Nice time of year for a vacation. Happy Spring!
i dont think anyone feel secure even with the update. nothing a Sharpie cant fix ;)
Its always the lower level help that get fired, never the bosses.
This is ridiculous. LANrev shouldn't be removing this feature, yes a feature that I'd like to stay in the suite, just because one school district misused it.
And I bet the IT guys getting canned weren't the ones deciding to spy on kids but higher level admins in the school.
@MRCUR - It's the potential for it to be misused that is the troubling part. It'd be like the government putting cameras in everyone's home and telling us "We'll only use them if there is an emergency in your home" Would you trust them? I wouldn't....
@Brokinarrow - No, I probably wouldn't. But as an IT guy working in a school, I'd trust myself and my coworkers to use the software responsibly.
@MRCUR
But would you trust every IT and their coworkers everywhere this is used?
@kitsune - Thats a valid question which I hadn't really thought about entirely. I suppose I wouldn't, just like I wouldn't trust the govt as a whole.
But I do think this should be dealt with on a school-by-school basis. LANrev's blanket removal still isn't something I agree with.
@MRCUR
The "safest" way this could be used, imo, is that said option to turn on the camera is left, but can be activated only using an encrypted key, different for each computer.
All keys would be only known by, say, a government bureau or the cops, something that is regulated and transparent. And to get such key you would have to file a demand towards them (I mean, if you, as a school employee suspect someone to have stolen a school computer you have to notify the cops anyway), like this every time someone turns the camera on it would be known.
But even that way I don't really like the idea.
@kitsune - Not a bad idea but not something i think is very practical for most schools and police departments.
@MRCUR That isn't exactly reassuring. I trust myself too, as well as my friends and colleagues (as do most people). I don't trust you.
@coolbho3000 - Whats no reassuring? That I trust myself and my coworkers, just as you said for yourself and your coworkers?
I certainly don't trust you or anyone you mentioned, but that's not to say you're an untrustworthy guy.
@MRCUR The point is, I would not use a laptop that you had the ability to tap into anytime. I'm sure you guys are great, trustworthy guys. But would you trust me with that kind of power?
If you worked in my school's IT department, and I was given the laptop as part of a 1:1 program, yes, I would use it. So, yes.
Is it safe to walk around naked in front of my computer now?
@ThisCrapSuckscom Maybe for you, but not for the dude peeping on the other end!
@ThisCrapSuckscom
I'm sorry sir you cant do that, this is a Starbucks.
@ThisCrapSuckscom
No its not so for goodness-sake put your clothes back on as I wasn't expecting to see you nude and choked on my candy bar!!
I don't know about Macbooks, but I know it is possible for software to keep the light off and the camera on. I had a nanny cam style webcam setup for when I went out of town and there was an option to keep the light off. Very possible that they were able to do that here as well.