School Listening on Student's Laptop Without Notice

[ArcherHunter]

My question involves civil rights in the State of: California
Hi, I have a question that I want to know about.
At my school, they have recently implemented a computer monitoring program that watches us while we are at school to make sure we are not doing anything bad. I have found out that they can turn on microphone and listen to me wherever I am at school. They claim it does not work at home, but I am sure it does. I have a Mac, which means that my microphone is always on, and they can see, hear, and control whatever I am doing. I find it extremely annoying and invasive. I was not told that they can listen to me, only look at my computer screen. I was wondering if this is illegal, and if I should find a way to get it stopped. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

[jk]

the first question: have you or your parents signed a permission to allow the eavesdropping? If not, it is illegal to do anytime.

There was a case back east somewhere where some students were "unintentionally" viewed via the webcam when they were at home. You might look for it and the results. Of course state laws differ but if I remember correctly, the state's laws involved were similar to California's.

Ah, here it is:

http://www.cleveland.com/nation/inde...tly_recor.html

[Security Consultant]

In the Pennsylvania case the students had signed permission forms. Here's a followup on that case where the Lower Merion School District paid out major dollars on the case.

[jk]

Here's a case in Pennsylvania, where a school district issued Macs to students and I know permission forms were signed. They were tuning in to the students homes and bedroom. The FBI got involved and the school district paid out big bucks.

Yep, same one as I referred to.

The case in PA resulted in a negotiated settlement. It did not go to court. Also in the article you linked it was stated that although the FBI was involved, they found no justification for criminal charges. I suspect the fact it was "the school" and not some particular person working at the school they determined it was not intended to be a criminal act and as such, no prosecutions.

[ironeagle]

Question for OP:

Is the computer your property or the schools property?

Expectation of privacy: in most states and jurisdictions if a person or persons has or unreasonably uses electronic devices such as a camera or microphone(recording device), during or at a place or time traditionally considered by "reasonable persons" to be private, such as inside your home, and the persons specifically accessing this information have no reason to access that private time or area, then they could be prosecuted. If the computer is yours I recommend taking to a computer specialist and having any programs that could be used as spyware removed including the schools, if it belongs to the school I recommend refusing to take the instrument home unless and until the school can prove the spyware can be turned of for the privacy of the individual at home, or they remove the spyware permanently.

I personally as a parent or two teenage children be very suspicious and disturbed by spyware on my child's computer. I would shut down the computer and remove it from my home if it was their property and have the spyware removed and blocked by a professional if it were mine. At the school the school has the right to monitor their property, however there may be laws in your state describing if there are any restrictions to these rules, such as if recording or listening in on their voices is or is not acceptable.

[ArcherHunter]

Sorry for the late response as I have not checked my email in a long time. My parents never signed a sheet, or were told anything about it. I was told about it, but didn't sign anything. They only told me a little. They said they could watch my screen, but it turns out that they they can do far more than just look at my screen. Is this illegal? I want to stop this program from being in school.

[jk]

If you are a minor, this is something your parents will have to do. It sounds like it is questionable, at best. If there is the possibility of turning on the camera without any sort of notification to the user, it could easily end up with children in various states of undress being viewed. That is a serious problem.

[ArcherHunter]

I will tell my parents of the problem. Also, yes, they can turn on our webcams without notification, I have seen it happen to myself and others at school. Thank you for your help.

[RickZ]

Is this your personal computer or a school provided computer? It seems fishy all around that your school really cares what you are doing. That is your parent's responsibility not the schools. Perhaps they are bluffing only to make you think they are watching so you won't goof off in school. Having the school monitor your computer to such an extent including screen shots would require a lot of resources in monitoring the systems. It sounds unusual to me all around. You may be able to discover if this is a bluff or not by looking up how they monitor the system and how many staff members do that. If it is low, it is unlikely.

Either way, I would take up the issue with the head of the school system and get some sense through him if it really is capable of all of this. Ask him or her if the students can place their own webcam in their office to make sure they are doing their jobs too. You have implied rights.

[Conrad Hunter]

Your parents should speak to a local civil rights organization or the ACLU. Although schools get to do some things that wouldn't be allowed in the real world in restricting the rights of students, this goes way beyond that.

I would also be concerned with who exactly has the decision making authority and who has the authority to actually do it. Can just any teacher, for instance, use the software to access a student's computer. How do you know some pervert at the school is not watching? How good are your school's emplyee background checks. (You'd be surprised how bad they are.) What protections and guidelines are in place? Is any of this material recorded? If so, they should be sued into the ground and go to jail. A biggie, is how can the school even afford to have paid employees listening in to teenage conversations? What kind of money has been and is being spent on this mini-police state.

Certainly your state has public records laws. File a public records request DEMANDING all of this information.
Then watch them dance.