student laptops and invasion of privacy

[Seiter_12]

my year level is geyying laptops this year and they tell parents that they record all that is done on them from key loggers to reacording what your doing on the screen so is this an invasion of the students privacy and ive heard they use the webcams to spy on students is this true

[niixx]

Idk about that. In my country no one gets laptops from school. Anyway, if i was you, i would keep it closed and get another one for school, just to have my privacy. They can't spy when laptop is off. And web cam can record only darkness. :)

[Desuetude]

In my school they can search up what every student is doing on any computer/laptop they block inapropriate websites and all that so its basiclly just to spy that the kids are doing their work and not playing games or on youtube :/. We don't have webcams so i don't know if this is true but i wouldn't have thought so.

[User Deleted]

They tried that once, dunno which school. But I'm fairly sure it was outlawed. If it bugs you tape the camera.

[xXl0sth0peXx]

This IS illegal.

A school that I know of, did this and they had lawsuits and stuff filed against them.
here is a link (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-6223385-504083.html) (if you google lower merion laptops you should also get a ton of stuff too)

So yes, this is illegal and should not be done.

[KrisKindle]

In my school they can search up what every student is doing on any computer/laptop they block inapropriate websites and all that so its basiclly just to spy that the kids are doing their work and not playing games or on youtube :/. We don't have webcams so i don't know if this is true but i wouldn't have thought so.

Totally true. It's the same at my school. I guess like a bunch of people are going to say that it's illegal/invasion of privacy, but I don't think it is. The way I look at it is that they are trying to make sure that all the students are doing what they're supposed to be on the net, which should be school related stuff. It's pretty much the schools right to do whatever they want, since they supplied the laptops.

[Jean Poutine]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbins_v._Lower_Merion_School_District

[Jupiter]

spying is illegal yes, but recording what i do on my macbook is not, and i'm surprized i haven't been busted for vt yet.

[dark_soul777]

I'm always messing around with the security system at school and I've never been caught, I think the keyloggers and whatnot are really more of a scare tactic than anything real.

[DerBear]

They can control by seeing what sites your going on, that is there every right. Webcam would be hard to do because it would be like a rmote control device to see when to activate your cam also they wont see what your doing when using your webcam

[canadaski]

It's their choice since the devices belong to them. Assuming the keylogger is in the software and not a peripheral device, you could format your hard drive and reinstall the operating system. You'd be free from their controlling software. i found it kind of scary that anyone could access stock information, email accounts etc. Now I only use my laptop to access that kind of info at school.

Ther is a program called LanSchool that's very poorly put together. It does have live screenviewing and optional take over control. The funny thing is, you can install the teacher version of the software on a different machine on the network and screw with people. It's very insecure, I don't know how they still sell licenses.

[Desuetude]

Ther is a program called LanSchool that's very poorly put together. It does have live screenviewing and optional take over control. The funny thing is, you can install the teacher version of the software on a different machine on the network and screw with people. It's very insecure, I don't know how they still sell licenses.

Lanschool isnt meant to be the most secure thing in the world. Its only meant to be there for teachers to check up on the kids from one machine and check that theyre on task. I suppose if you want to go to all that trouble finding and downloading it just to freak out friends then thats your choice. i suppose it does the job in schools and thats all theyre really worried about.

[gone123]

If they did that at my school, I would simply remove the software. It wouldn't be hard to do.

[ippahp]

Pretty sure that wouldn't fly. If they really do that though, put part of a sticky note over the camera lens, and don't do anything you wouldn't want them to know about on the laptop. Pretty easy.

[Jupiter]

no.

they won't look in your webcams. that is illegal. however, they can read everything you are doing. that is fair enough.

[beplubber24]

What country do you live if the us it is illegal for them to use the webcam on you but if you live somewhere else idk what to say

[monkeydo]

It depends on the laws of the country I guess. I don't think using web cams to spy would be acceptable anywhere though, but tracking what you do and what sites you visit is normal in my country.

[Taylorxbox]

It's not illegal. Think about it, its the SCHOOLS PROPERTY. They just want to be able to see what your doing and make sure your not playing games or doing other stuff. They want you to be doing your homework.

Our school has certain sites blocked, and they Sometimes monitor what we are doing. But they don't log anything and don't look through the cameras.?.

They may just be saying that to scare you so you don't do anything... Just a thought..

[Caver]

I'm not sure, your on the over side of the world!
But no one can see my desktop on my laptop because its my own personal laptop.
At school teachers can see what i'm doing if they look it up, but youtube, facebook and even google images is blocked in my school.

[CoolKid97]

We get MacBooks in our schools! However they shut off at ten and alot of sites such as FaceBook are blocked at school. The laptops are more or less for educational purposes so we should be glad we get them! It's not a invasion of privacy because they can look through your locker or bag at any time. Alot of schools have a program that keeps and saves your history. They don't look at your passwords or any of that stuff but they can look at emails and such. In Pennsylvania there was a scandel where the kids were being watched on the webcams. Some kids were changing or naked. Others were just sitting there or doing other things. That was a outrage and the FBI was involved I believe because that is a invasion or privacy. Just don't go on any sites you shouldnt! :cool::yeah::eek:

[beplubber24]

We get MacBooks in our schools! However they shut off at ten and alot of sites such as FaceBook are blocked at school. The laptops are more or less for educational purposes so we should be glad we get them! It's not a invasion of privacy because they can look through your locker or bag at any time. Alot of schools have a program that keeps and saves your history. They don't look at your passwords or any of that stuff but they can look at emails and such. In Pennsylvania there was a scandel where the kids were being watched on the webcams. Some kids were changing or naked. Others were just sitting there or doing other things. That was a outrage and the FBI was involved I believe because that is a invasion or privacy. Just don't go on any sites you shouldnt! :cool::yeah::eek:
Uh, they can look at your emails, but that, too, is illegal. If I knew my school was doing that, I'd sue their butts off.

[Cognizant]

They do monitor the Computer Lab computers, but not the MacBooks here. At my school nobody really cares if you are on facebook or not. Blocks on websites are there, and System Preferences has been disabled, so there is not much to look out after.

(And I am serious, too. If you go to our school library during lunch, everyone is on the iMacs and MacBooks playing tetris battle, web surfing, I sometimes video chat friends and go on here, and nobody cares)

The only time that they can really see what you are doing is on the iMacs in the computer lab, or if you send files to the Student fileserver.

[Jay_Team_Swagg]

My school l is giving us ipads, im worried about the sane thing

[Mortal Coil]

The laptops are the school's property, even if they are being "given" to you, therefore it is their right to see what you are doing on the laptops. They won't use the webcams to spy on you, but no, it is not an invasion of privacy to see what you are doing on their laptops. If you want to watch porn of torrent something, get a netbook.

[plebble]

I heard that on the news about a school in america...

[toyoiksa]

A school that I know of, did this and they had lawsuits and stuff filed against them.

[Dmaxd123]

if you use someone else's laptop then i don't view it as spying except the webcam part. use your own laptop for whatever you want and the school's laptop for school work it isn't that difficult

[Atlantis]

bumped :locked: