zeugma wrote:
This article claims that a lawsuit was filed over a Philly high school allegedly activating student's webcams to spy on students at home. Scary.

"Deplorable" is the word I'd use. I'm anxiously waiting to see who gets criminal charges levied against them for this, which I feel is a decidedly criminal act. School administrators can cry all they like that students in a school have no rights (something I think is just hellishly incorrect) but once the student leaves, anything not directly affecting the school or the faculty is none of their damn business.

Clearly this system of monitoring was set in place with no controls, no clear mechanism for oversight, was ripe for abuse and abused it was. From what the students are saying the lights on their webcams were coming on rather frequently, meaning probably more than one member of the staff was going far beyond what is acceptable for monitoring use and engaging in flagrant and widespread acts of invasion of privacy. If they "accidentally" created some child porn, then that's something they should have foreseen, and would have forseen if they had bothered thinking beyond "I can do whatever I want because I'm a teacher and they're a student".

Putting someone in jail for a month or two would send a clear message that being a school administrator does not give you the right to become Big Brother and attempt to rule over every aspect of your student's lives.