This one is interesting. At first I applauded the school for having the forethought to include some means of tracking the computers if they were stolen, but then I thought that the ability to abuse this power is too readily available, not to mention the means.
There are other ways to track a computer. Lojack is one that I wasted money on, only because it was not compatible with El Diablo's Windows Vista program. but it might have been a better choice.
I think people will probably get upset with the sheer number of pictures that were captured, but closer reading of the article points out that once the program is activated it automatically takes a picture every 15 minutes. so....let's see....4 per hour times 24 hours times 15 days = 1440 frames....so I guess the program didn't work quite as well as advertised if it missed half the frames by taking only 700 pictures.
The difficulty that the district finds themselves in could have been alleviated by having a sticker or some other means of notification placed on the computer. Something along the line of "if this computer is reported missing, software will be automatically activated to assist in it's location which may include GPS tracking, keystroke recording, screen shot recording and photography".
I applaud the school for providing a means to further education. However I do think that the good idea fairy didn't hit them hard enough. I've placed blocks on my home computers which restrict the activity that my teenager children can access. No social websites, no email, no IMing is allowed on their profiles, they can only access that stuff through my profile, which is only open when I can "spy" over their shoulder. If they don't like it, then they don't need to use the services I provide.
There is also no reason that the school could not have had software installed which would have allowed or prohibited certain things. Having that type of set up and ADVERTISING IT would have made the whole thing less attractive to the thieves.
I am only slightly curious why one staff member invoked the 5th. But the bottom line is that the computers belong to the school, but the school can't take advantage of technology in order to conduct illegal surveillance......thus we have the quandary, how does the school protect its investment and provide the service of educating.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/19/district-admits-secretly-capturing-images-students-laptops/?test=latestnews
4 comments:
When the "full" story comes out, this is going to become a "very" serious problem for this school, which has been caught trying to monitor the behavior of it's students by invading their privacy, using the phony excuse of keeping track of it's computers.
I wonder what would've happened had they done this to their faculty members.
ignorance is bliss
Alan,
there remains a flock of questions and associated better ideas that could have alleviated this situation.
One question is, WHY did they feel it necessary to take a picture EVERY 15 minutes? OnStar can track your stolen car, as can Lojack, but they don't PING your car and record its location 4 times an hour to see IF it was stolen.
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Why did they STORE all the pictures? They could have had a storage capture that kept the last 3 hours. That way, they most probably would have had a thief typing away. Not Little Johnny polishing the pole, flogging the dog, steaming his weenie...
Why did they set up a system that allowed any SOLITARY person access to the pictures? If they had a dual person log in to access these pictures, and then ONLY if there was a theft, it probably would have kept most pervs off the network.
It just seems to me, this was a great idea, that was turned bad, as per usual idiot standards, by the usual suspects. Self-important gub'ment employees who assumed they were untouchable.
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