School District Sued For Allegedly Spying On Students At Home

As a litigator, I am very mindful of overplaying my hand. I might have a landmine case or discover something untoward, but I think about when and how to use it.  I also think of how my adversary will react to it.  Evidently, Assistant Principal Lindy Mastko of Harriton High School does not think so far ahead.  This is evidenced when she called a student into her office to accuse him of having “engaged in improper behavior in his home”.  This begs the natural question: How do you know how I behave at home?

It turns out that Asst. Principal Mastko knew because the school had remotely and surreptitiously activated the webcam built into the school-issued laptop.  And thinking she had the student over a barrel, Ms. Mastko used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.  This begs the natural question: Where did you get this photo?

Ms. Mastko fessed up that the school district could remotely activate the webcam — a capability that is apparently being used and not disclosed by the terms set forth by the school.  And further confounding the matter, the family involved lived in faconnable Philly suburb.  That’s another unwritten rule of life: don’t irk rich people.

I Will Not Expose The School To Civil Liability

So there you have it – a government entity remotely accessing private citizen data with neither oversight nor warrant.  Right now, the school district is scrambled to cover their overexposed backside but this is a doozy.

On a final note, if a principal ever questioned how my child behaved at home, I’d tell them that their purview stops at the school steps.   The school acts in loco parentis at school; parents act in loco parentis at home.  Latin class is over.

Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al

via Engadget and Boing Boing