| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
fish5133
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 2568
Location: One breath from Glory
|
 Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:28 pm Post subject: US School Spies On Kids |
 |
|
| Quote: | School 'Used Webcams To Spy On Pupils'
A school in the US has been accused of spying on its students by remotely activating cameras built into their laptops.
The case has outraged parents and pupils at Harriton High School in suburban Philadelphia and raised serious questions about privacy and ethics.
Parents of one child have filed a lawsuit against the school district in Pennsylvania.
They say staff told them the camera on the school-issued laptop had caught their son doing something "inappropriate" at home.
Other parents said they were furious.
"This laptop is part of our life 24/7, it is open all the time," said Karen Gotlieb, who has a daughter at the school.
"I just received an email from my daughter, who is very upset, saying 'Mum, I have that laptop open in my bedroom all the time, even when I'm changing'."
Pupils say they are horrified at the thought that staff could look into their home life.
Carlee Pons said: "It was nerve-wracking to see that green light go on.
"Some kids were really worried to the point of tears, calling their parents, freaking out and I know parents were definitely outraged by this."
Another student Tom Halpern said: "We just read '1984' this year. I don't think they should be able to get into our business like this. It just doesn't seem fair."
The school district says it will fight the lawsuit. It says cameras were only ever activated to track its 2,300 laptops only if they were reported missing, lost or stolen. (so who reported the one in this case?)
"The security feature's capabilities were limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen," Superintendent Christopher McGinley said in a letter to parents.
Attorney Amy Feldman said: "This has gone so far that, while we can always say there's no privacy in the internet age, I think we have to hit the point where we say this has gone too far."
Students are taking their own direct action - putting sticky-tape over the camera lens  |
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100220/tod-school-used-webcams-to-spy-on- pupils-870a197.html
_________________
JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
outsider
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 30 Jul 2006
Posts: 6060
Location: East London
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
More on same case:
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/yd/local/ci_14433058?source=rss
_________________
'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fish5133
Site Admin
Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 2568
Location: One breath from Glory
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Notice this article also mentions
| Quote: | | The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the privacy of the home when it ruled in 2001 that police could not, without a warrant, use thermal imaging equipment outside a home to see if heat lamps were being used inside to grow marijuana. Technology or no, Supreme Court precedents draw "a firm line at the entrance to the house," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, quoting an earlier case |
Police helicopters are forever flying around the UK using thermal imaging on rooftops to catch out pot growers. Next it will be targetting those of us with high carbon footprints and poor loft insulation. No doubt to be swiftly followed with a fine.
_________________
JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
letthemeatmadeiracake
Minor Poster
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 71
Location: Scotland
|
| Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:53 pm Post subject: CCTV cameras in school toilets (UK) |
|
|
Not just the US, but here in the UK too. There seem to be an increasing amount of stories of CCTV cameras being installed in school toilets. The first story I came across was of a junior school in Norwich; the school had the convenient (no pun intended) excuse that the pupils had asked for cameras to be installed. This was juxtaposed against an anti-Orwellian Shami Chakrabarti quote which was effectively neutered.
| Quote: | Director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti said ‘The state of our privacy in Britain, and the currency and value of it, is rather worse than even I had thought if we now believe the only way to teach seven to 11 year olds to respect property, to behave well, is to put CCTV in the toilets.
She added: ‘In other words, to teach them 'behave well for fear of being caught' and to prepare them for a lifetime of pretty intrusive surveillance. What are we saying to them about their dignity and their personal privacy?’
Mr Holman said that ‘the pupils at the school saw that there was available space on the security system operating in the school and asked whether TV cameras could be installed. It's just to cover the sink areas in order to prevent further vandalism to the toilets which they are so proud of.’
[So that's you told, Ms. Chakrabarti] |
http://www.mychild.co.uk/news/cctv-in-school-1532
Here's the latest:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Parents-Outraged-After-CCTV-C ameras-Installed-In-Toilets-At-Grace-Academy-Birmingham/Article/201003 215570225?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_8&lid=ARTICLE_ 15570225_Parents_Outraged_After_CCTV_Cameras_Installed_In_Toilets_At_G race_Academy%2C_Birmingham
| Quote: |
Parents Angry Over CCTV In School Toilets
3:28pm UK, Tuesday March 09, 2010
Roddy Mansfield, Sky News Online
Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school's toilets.
Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.
Some parents are furious at what they say is a "total invasion of privacy" and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.
One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands.
She told the Sunday Mercury: "She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl's toilets but we didn’t know anything about it.
"You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision."
Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.
School principal Terry Wales told Sky News: "It's to safeguard our youngsters, many schools are using cameras now.
"We had a parents' forum last night, we explained the arrangements and the parents were satisfied.
"We've found that when it comes to health and safety, children want to feel secure."
But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.
Dylan Sharpe from Big Brother Watch told Sky News: "Children are entitled to privacy like anyone else.
"We're raising a generation of children accustomed to being constantly watched and monitored, whether cameras are switched on or not."
Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.
The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children's privacy.
Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.
Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school. [Er... why  ]
In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent's consent.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents. |
Also
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-517250/School-removes-CCTV-cam eras-childrens-toilets-furious-protest-parents.html
(Note: no more wheeling out of a suitably outraged Chakrabarti; no more indignant anti-BB quotes?).
_________________
"For truth has now come to light, and falsehood [by its nature] is bound to perish; for, falsehood cannot bring forth anything new, nor can it bring back [what has passed away]." |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Disco_Destroyer
Trustworthy Freedom Fighter
Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 6342
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
http://flyingcuttlefish.wordpress.com
In the USA all the teachers are being fired this week.
5,000 + in LosAngeles (wsws.org)
and 3,000+ maybe today in Kansas City ... (kansascity.com)
_________________
'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”
www.myspace.com/disco_destroyer |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Chat
Usergroups
Calendar
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
