Spycams - one issue I haven't seen raised.

[noamnety]

Given all the problems we have with students being complete dumbasses with webcams, the percent of young girls that feel the need to webcam their breasts and the need for young men to use webcams to broadcast the family jewels, why would any high school feel that supplying all their students with webcams was a good idea?

Illegal spying aside, I just can't see how anyone would think that was a good idea.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. You actually believe this story?

:rofl:

[WeDidIt]

4. The FBI certainly thinks there's something to it. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. The FBI is investigating

All it takes is a phone call and an allegation.

[hobbit709]

11. Takes more than a phone call.

The allegation has to have enough substance for them to believe it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Have you ever been investigated by the FBI?

If you had you would know a phone call is all it takes. The investigation I was involved in was bullshit and the FBI agents said so from the beginning. But someone had called and they had to follow up.

[hobbit709]

18. I've been investigated by more agencies than you can shake a stick at.

90% of the phone calls are followed up by little more than a couple of phone calls on their part. If you fall into the other 10%, then you get a real investigation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. I am assuming since this involves kids

and the media is all over this story, the FBI is covering all the bases.

[mzteris]

21. according to a DU'er, whose daughter attends . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7761531

[mzteris]

24. and the perv truth is out:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7770491


Still think it's "funny"?

[knitter4democracy]

2. One of the schools I teach in has them.

They're built-in on the laptops. We use them for remote learning, and I've heard of teachers who incorporate them in homework assignments, much as some college classes do.

[noamnety]

3. Do you think at 15

all the girls in your school are responsible enough to use them without being tempted to do a girls gone wild routine?

That's something I think might be better left to colleges, where the women might still make bad choices, but at least they are doing it as adults. At our school, we've even had honor roll students who appeared to be good students with good heads on their shoulders post topless photos of themselves on facebook. I know that that from teachers who are facebook friends with them, and have gotten an unexpected unsolicited eyeful. That's part of the culture, and I just don't think they are old enough to understand the long term consequences or make responsible choices if you put temptation right in front of them like that. (Sort of the reason we don't let them drink at that age.)

[FBaggins]

6. Do you think that there are ANY such students...

...who would be unable to do this if it weren't for the school providing a camera?

If there were some interested 15 yr/old girl without one, I'm sure there's no end of 15 yr/old boys willing to provide a loaner.

[noamnety]

7. Yes, I do think this provided access to some who wouldn't have otherwise had it.

The point of the school providing the laptops was in part to bridge the digital divide, and ensure that all their students had access to a computer and the internet at home.

Accessibility 24/7 makes a difference.

I don't think the school should be in the business of providing it to all the students, especially without explicitly informing parents that it has a webcam (spying aside, as I said). Parents should have had the option to opt out of the webcam altogether, instead of a school official deciding that if an underage kid lives in that area, they WILL be given webcam access round the clock.

[FBaggins]

8. Did you note where the story takes place?

This isn't a poor county where the schools are providing internet access to those who wouldn't otherwise afford it... it's a wealthy county trying the latest thing. There's little doubt that the VAST majority of their students have "access" to all the technology they could want.

[noamnety]

15. about 3% of the school aged kids are below the poverty line.

A bunch of rich people, yes. And undoubtedly most could afford to give their kids webcams if they wanted to.

All the same, I believe it should be the parent's decision, not a public official's decision, to supply all minors in the region with webcams.

[knitter4democracy]

16. The parents at my school are informed of it.

It's out in the open that there are teachers who use the remote desktop option in class, that the school has the ability to see where kids have been surfing, and that the webcams are on there (I don't think we can turn them on remotely, though). I'd have to ask our principal how this story is trickling down to us.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. In that school district, no

Most probably have this kind of computer equipment at home.

[knitter4democracy]

13. Girls aren't the only ones who do stupid things in front of a camera.

I teach in a Catholic school, so the rules are a bit different, but we teachers constantly remind the students that the computers are for school use only and to know that the school can check where you've looked and what you've been doing with what, in all reality, is still school property.

Most of the kids already have other computer access at home and are more than capable of doing something stupid on their home computers. In fact, every student I have talks of compatibility issues (school's computers are Macs) between the home and school computers.

[noamnety]

17. no, it's not just the girls.

I acknowledged that boys do it too.

The reason though that I'm more focused on the girls is that society judges them more harshly - it's more likely to be a career killer for girls, a "youthful indiscretion" or lark for boys. (Witness Scott Brown being elected senator, despite posing nude in a magazine.)

[pipi_k]

22. Exactly...had Martha Coakley done what Scott Brown did...

it would have been part of the campaign against her. She'd have been political toast right from the start, unlike Scott Brown, who merely got a lot of nudges and winks.


I shudder to think of how many young women may have had their pictures taken without their permission or knowledge who may, at some point in their futures, have those photos used against them...

They wouldn't even be able to claim they didn't know those photos were being taken without people insisting they were lying. Lives...careers...ruined.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. I believe they are incorporated into all Mac laptops

[hobbit709]

5. We already know what they're doing with cellphone cameras.

[customerserviceguy]

19. If they didn't do it with their school-supplied laptops

They'd be doing it with their parent-supplied cell phones.

You just can't protect people from stupid behavior merely by taking their toys away. We had Polaroid cameras back when I was in high school, but I didn't see any boob shots of the cheerleading squad being passed around. It's all a matter of how much self respect kids have, and my guess is that it's in short supply these days.

[noamnety]

20. Then it would be on the parents' shoulders.

Some things shouldn't be illegal, but all the same, the school shouldn't be supplying it.

Junk food for lunches is an example. Nobody's ever said kids shouldn't be allowed to bring a bag of chips and a bag of gummy bears for their lunch. But it's a whole other thing for the school to be marketing those items to kids directly.

If the parents want to provide cell phones, that's their choice as parents. It's another for the school to be handing out the webcams to every student, knowing how they are routinely abused.

[customerserviceguy]

25. You make a valid point

I suppose there are some advantages to having a webcam if the goal is education, but my schooling is so far long ago that the only option we had was face-to-face.

There is no technology so benign that it cannot be somehow abused.