Article Summary 9: FBI and Webcams

The Associated Press. "F.B.I. Queries Webcam Use by Schools." New York Times 20 Feb. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

In Philadelphia there has been a recent argument over the use of webcams by school officials. Students were issued laptops to take home with them, and felt safe in having them in their homes. Recently a student issued a lawsuit against the schools for remotely turning on the webcam while the laptop was in the students’ home. The students and parents were not informed that this could happen, and were outraged over the invasion of privacy. The school officials have activated 42 webcams in a little over a year.

The FBI are looking into the legality of the schools to turn on the webcams, and the school officials are arguing that they only turned on the webcam to locate lost laptops. The district attorney is considering looking into the matter, and there is a lot of anger over the fact that the school did this without informing anyone that it was even possible. The schools have suspended the practice from now. Only two people were authorized to turn on the webcams, and are saying that it was only used to locate the lost laptops. They say that the webcams were never used to spy on students.