Continuing erosion of privacy

[unixronin]

Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania issued laptops to its high-school students and encouraged them to take them home.  Then it used the remotely-activatable webcams on the laptops to spy on the students and their families without their knowledge.  (Update:  Another story on it says webcam-equipped laptops were issued to 1,800 students at three high schools.)

A class-action lawsuit has been filed.  I hope the school administrators responsible go to jail for this.  There is absolutely no possible excuse whatsoever.  I won't be surprised if it turns out that some of the school administrators have their own private collections of the racier webcam shots, and if so, I predict they WILL be going to jail, on kiddie-porn charges.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

By the way, how do I make sure the webcam on this iMac is turned off?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Honestly, damned if I know. I've never used an iMac; I've really never been a Mac person — the Mac UI has too many underlying design features that I strongly dislike. But the odds are good someone on my FL should be able to answer the question.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Cover it with electrical tape. ;-)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I'd already figured *that* one out.

:-)

(Has the added advantage that They can't override it via malware.)

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

Beat me to it, m'lady. ;)

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

Nice! Sometimes the mechanical engineering fix is far better than the electrical or computer science solution.

[argonel.livejournal.com]

Good question. On my dell there is a led that lights up when I turn the camera on. No idea if it can be disabled in software.

You can always go low tech a put a piece of electrical tape over the lens though.

[mrakg.livejournal.com]

As several folks have mentioned, covering the lens with something opaque is a low-tech, foolproof answer. I use a small adhesive bandage. The pad blocks light completely, and won't stick to/ruin the lens.

Microphone - not a good answer. The one machine I have with a microphone has an honest-to-Edison switch for it.