Laptop camera snapped away in one classroom (2008 webcast by network tech)

[maddezmom]

Laptop camera snapped away in one classroom
By Dan Hardy, Derrick Nunnally, and John Shiffman

Inquirer Staff Writers

A laptop security program at Lower Merion schools was, when triggered, set up to snap multiple photos of whoever was using the computer, a district computer employee said in a 2008 webcast.

As an example, network technician Mike Perbix said, the system snapped as many as 20 photos of a teacher and some students without their knowledge while they were in a high school classroom during regular classes.

It would keep recording photos from the webcam and screen shots of whatever the computer user was doing until it was turned off, he said.

"It's a fantastic feature," Perbix said, chuckling at times as he talked about the theft-tracking feature in the software. "I can't speak highly enough of it."

more:http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100222_Laptop_camera_snapped_away_in_one_classroom.html

link to webcast found by googling
http://bdyoutube.com/video/hHu92imqJec/Mike-Perbix-talks-about-spying-with-laptop-remote-admin-software.html

[vegiegals]

1. "Webcamgate.".

..........Other new details are surfacing about the controversy that students are already calling "Webcamgate."..........

[Hannah Bell]

2. The webcast is worth seeing, both to understand the system & to demonstrate how easy it is to affect

readers' perceptions of situations with wording: listen & see if you think this:

"It's a fantastic feature," Perbix said, chuckling at times as he talked about the theft-tracking feature in the software. "I can't speak highly enough of it."

is an accurate representation of the speaker's tone during the presentation.

[Vinca]

3. You've got to hope the network tech isn't a pedophile.

If it's snapping photos in kids' bedrooms, it likely captured naked minors.

[hobbit709]

4. That's prima facie proof that feature was not used ONLY for tracking

the "lost or stolen" laptops.

[Hannah Bell]

9. how's that?

[hobbit709]

10. None so blind as will not see

Monitoring a class without their knowledge is NOT tracking a lost or stolen machine.

[SidDithers]

11. Kinda obvious, eh?...nt

Sid

[Hannah Bell]

14. The class wasn't being monitored. Try actually reading the article.

"Once, he said laptops he thought were stolen were just misplaced - in a classroom.

'And by the time we found out they were back, I had to turn the tracking off, and I had a good 20 snapshots of the teacher and students using the machines in the classroom.'"


Yes, none so blind.

[Missy Vixen]

13. So, what are we betting that someone involved has some pretty

illegal results from the "accidental" enabling of the program without student, parent or administration knowledge?

:eyes:

[maddezmom]

5. interesting blog post about LANRev

http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2010/02/spy-at-harrington-high.html

[blogslut]

8. I was surfing around tiny-print/support corners of the LanRev site earlier

The company was purchased by Absolute Software recently:

http://www.lanrev.com/

I'm wondering how much control the end-user (The school IT department) really has over this software?

[maddezmom]

12. Software maker blasts 'vigilantism' in Pa. school spying case

Software maker blasts 'vigilantism' in Pa. school spying case
Absolute Software will update its LANRev to disable camera feature
By Gregg Keizer
February 22, 2010 04:06 PM ET

The company selling the software used by a Pennsylvania school district to allegedly spy on its students blasted what it called laptop theft-recovery "vigilantism" today.

Absolute Software said it dissuades users of theft-recovery software from acting on their own. "We discourage any customer from taking theft recovery into their own hands," said Stephen Midgley, the company's head of marketing, in an interview Monday. "That's best left in the hands of professionals."

Midgley confirmed that Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Pa. was running Absolute Manage, formerly known as LANRev, which Absolute Software acquired last December. The suburban Philadelphia school district purchased and deployed LANRev prior to Absolute's acquisition, he said, noting that most school districts buy the software for power management features that let IT staff remotely power down systems.

Calling LANRev a "legacy" product, Midgley also said that Absolute would ship an update in the next several weeks that will permanently disable Theft Track, the name of the feature that lets administrators switch on a laptop's camera to take photographs of a potential thief after the computer is reported stolen. "It really doesn't serve any purpose," said Midgley of Theft Track.

more:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9160278/Software_maker_blasts_vigilantism_in_Pa._school_spying_case?taxonomyId=12

[woo me with science]

17. This deserves its own OP, in my opinion.

It's a fascinating and disturbing read.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. Maddezmom, please see DU threads by PCIntern. His daughter was in possession of one of those laptops

last year.

This violation of privacy disgusts me.

[maddezmom]

7. I really hope someone like the DA or FBI have started to collect hard drives

from both the students and the tech department after reading the blog I just posted above.

[Monk06]

15. Well that will put an end to nude FReeping

[TexasObserver]

16. Recommend!

But just barely. By three minutes.

I hate that damn 24 hours limit on recommending. What if I don't look at this board for 24 hours?