The article does change things a bit,

I believe school should be able to punish the kid for

STEALING the laptop, but they should not be able to punish him for anything else.

And $1,000 for a laptop, rly?
a laptop for highschool education, should be like a netbook that's about $200~$300,
what are they going to do with the laptop? edit videos and fold proteins to find cure for cancer?

Gedrah

465 Posts

February 25 2010 20:58 GMT

#142

On February 20 2010 16:30 Sulli wrote:
Crazazyasian1337, you should edit your opening post and include the update. If the new information is true, then it does indeed change things.

And Gedrah, are you an English major or something like that? Your posts read like essays.

Once upon a time. :O

Craton

United States17281 Posts

February 25 2010 21:01 GMT

#143

On February 21 2010 07:32 Crazazyasian1337 wrote:
the school got the laptops through a grant with apple

There's always these little behind-the-scenes deals you don't know about -- my school distract had IP phones in every room and fully-equipped switch closets due to a partnership with CISCO and Comcast. The rub, of course, was they basically got/get to operate unregulated in my area.

Gedrah

465 Posts

February 25 2010 21:02 GMT

#144

On February 21 2010 07:32 Crazazyasian1337 wrote:
the school got the laptops through a grant with apple

Schools have been doing this since I was in 6th grade. The apple computers they used to "teach" us were piece of shit PowerPC and Performas and using them didn't prepare us in the slightest for using real computers out in the real world where a Mac isn't thought of us much else than a toy, regardless of the truth of the matter of how useful they are. For example, if something goes wrong on a PC, you troubleshoot it and call someone when you aren't sure you can fix it. If something goes wrong on a Mac, as we were taught, you call someone, period. Very different philosophy right there.

In either case your school got soaked which means we all got soaked.

Crazazyasian1337

United States362 Posts

April 18 2010 16:35 GMT

#145

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/16/school.webcams/?hpt=Sbin

update to the whole situation. apparently hundreds of pictures were taken O.o

Gnosis

Scotland912 Posts

April 18 2010 16:40 GMT

#146

So they didn't notify parents, but they weren't acting in an illegal and inappropriate way... Right...

maxor

England59 Posts

April 18 2010 16:52 GMT

#147

Im not sure as too the law in the u.s but in england it dosent matter in the least what they signed or what was in the small print its illegal to spy on anyone with out a court order.

If i signed a piece of paper saying it was ok to murder me it would still be murder and illegal although not quite the same level the legal position is the same.

Sue them to hell and back as a group then have the people in the pictures sue them further for what ever they like, if there are images of under age nakeness on their data bases then it will be prison time for all concerned really how naive can a school board be.

XeliN

United Kingdom1755 Posts

April 18 2010 16:58 GMT

#148

In a school my dad works at they installed a webcam in a room, labelled that there was surveilance equipment going on there and caught the school janitor stealing money from a staff collection box for a child charity.

He told me he hid the webcam inside a lever arch file on a shelf with it capturing through one of the large circular hole in the file, made me laugh although the idea of stealing from a childs charity is quite deplorable.

seRapH

United States9800 Posts

April 18 2010 17:33 GMT

#149

lol this school's about to be pwned. amazing that they got busted on mistaking candy for pills. its kinda like al capone getting busted on tax evasion, lol

Lysis

United States147 Posts

April 18 2010 18:03 GMT

#150

Just one more reason why I use a personal laptop without a webcam for my schoolwork. And while a laptop isn't required to get by in high school, it does help quite a bit for note-taking and such. In addition my high school uses an online service for major assignment submissions, making some form of computer required.

Reading the background of the case on wiki, it seems like no one was notified of the software on the computers, and the tech-support employed by the school praised the software numerous times (though in hindsight he seems like a total pedo). And with a Macbook it's near impossible to remove any unwanted software, especially if you don't know about it. I wonder if anyone decided to just remove the hard drive and get a new one, lol

Mykill

Canada3402 Posts

April 18 2010 18:09 GMT

#151

creeperssss >_<

semantics

10040 Posts

April 18 2010 18:10 GMT

#152

Adn this is why my webcam always points to the ceiling when not in use it's very easy to hijack a webcam

Crazazyasian1337

United States362 Posts

April 18 2010 19:06 GMT

#153

On April 19 2010 03:10 semantics wrote:
Adn this is why my webcam always points to the ceiling when not in use it's very easy to hijack a webcam

its a built in laptop webcam... wouldn't be very feasible to always have your monitor facing upwards like that

HeadhunteR

Argentina1258 Posts

April 18 2010 19:20 GMT

#154

WTF? super invasion of privacy.. and very creepy also.. i wonder if google can do it with our cameras in our laptops.. its back to 1984 people....

SilentCrono

United States1420 Posts

April 19 2010 03:11 GMT

#155

fucking crazy. this is really fucked up. seriously. big brother is watching you. all the time.

milo

116 Posts

April 19 2010 03:16 GMT

#156

There's no real winners here... the school's clearly at fault, rights were violated, but American public education is strapped for cash as is. Paying out potential millions to this class action suit isn't going to help those matters.

Flames

United States105 Posts

April 19 2010 03:35 GMT

#157

On April 19 2010 04:06 Crazazyasian1337 wrote:

Show nested quote +

its a built in laptop webcam... wouldn't be very feasible to always have your monitor facing upwards like that

Just put a piece of paper taped over the lens. I know that it's possible to hijack a webcam, but that shouldn't be a reason to not get a laptop with a built in one.

On topic....there's no way the school can win this lawsuit. That's completely ridiculous, they will probably lose because they didn't fully inform the families. I'm expecting a out of court settlement or a court order to specify what the school intends to do with the laptops.

EDIT: Oh snap, I didn't know the kid actually stole it. Huh, school has a better chance now...