School Listening on Student's Laptop Without Notice

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.

it may be against wiretapping laws ... maybe .. do you sign a release?

There is some controversy about this monitoring software being on school supplied computers. Potentially, the software can be used for illegal or immoral purposes. I would discuss my concerns with your parents and request they address them with the school board.

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

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.

Quote:

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Quoting Security Consultant

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

I think you need to enlist mom n dad, as well as other parents to get controls and standards in place.