NY Vice-Principal Brags About School's Laptop Spying to PBS
56 replies, posted
[quote]
Apparently using laptop webcams to spy on students isn't an isolated problem. An assistant principle in the Bronx recently not only bragged about doing just that to PBS—he demonstrated it live. Head's up: this gets real creepy.
Dan Ackerman is an administrator at Intermediate School 339, in the Bronx, and he appeared in a Frontline segment two weeks ago to demonstrate how they monitor their students' computer usage. The uncomfortable part of the segment, in which he accesses the webcams of various unknowing middle schoolers, starts at 4:36.
Not only is this clearly a privacy violation on the face of it, Ackerman's attitude gives me the willies:
"A lot of kids are just on it to check their hair, check their make-up: the girls... They don't even realize that we are watching. I always like to mess with them and take a picture."
Also weird: that no one at Frontline thought to raise this as an issue.
But I guess the bigger lesson here, kids, is that all those paranoid fantasies you like to indulge in are actually true. Big Brother is watching, and he's got an unkempt goatee.
UPDATE: Just to clarify, this situation isn't identical to the previous webcam spying incident in Philadelphia (these laptops are used only in the school, and the webcam is accessed when the students have an application like Photo Booth open). That doesn't make it right! It's still a privacy violation no matter where it takes place, and Ackerman's attitude and comments are still disturbing at best.
[url]http://gizmodo.com/5480962/ny-vice+principal-brags-about-schools-laptop-spying-to-pbs[/url]
[/quote]
While this isn't as bad as the indecent in Philadelphia, it's still a pretty blatant invasion of privacy.
[quote]"a lot of kids are just on it to check their hair, check their make-up: The girls... They don't even realize that we are watching. I always like to mess with them and take a picture."[/quote]
what
what
That is fucking disturbing, they're even public about it? Sickening.
what
and this is exactly why we need the w:hat: emoticon back.. :(
That is so creepy.
what the jesus crikey fuck
*Jaw drops*
Bragging about it?! He's just asking for a law suit now.
Sounds like standard network admin stuff? You can't expect your activity on school grounds to go unmonitored, this was all done on school grounds as you can see so I don't see the problem. He didn't unwittingly activate webcams or anything, he's just viewing people's screens which I expect is pretty standard practice in schools, to stop people pissing about and stuff.
-snip-
[QUOTE=Sparkwire;20432281]*[/QUOTE]
That image has no relevance to the context of this thread
at all.
A school should be allowed to know what the kids are doing on their computers. If you use your school computers for, oh I don't know, educational purposes, nothing bad can happen. Its just the few idiots using school webcams to check their hair that make this school look like shit.
[QUOTE=Perfumly;20432398]That image has no relevance to the context of this thread
at all.[/QUOTE]
yes it does.
[QUOTE=Bronsbey;20432205]what
and this is exactly why we need the w:hat: emoticon back.. :([/QUOTE]
:what:
Who cares if he keeps a eye on his students? Those are public computers, and if you use them, you have to face the cost. He doesn't deserve to be stuck in the web of trouble he is in.
[QUOTE=Darkcoder;20432304]Sounds like standard network admin stuff? You can't expect your activity on school grounds to go unmonitored, this was all done on school grounds as you can see so I don't see the problem. He didn't unwittingly activate webcams or anything, he's just viewing people's screens which I expect is pretty standard practice in schools, to stop people pissing about and stuff.[/QUOTE]
He did activate the webcams.
[quote]The uncomfortable part of the segment, in which he accesses the webcams of various unknowing middle schoolers, starts at 4:36.[/quote]
[QUOTE=TMlord95;20432712]Who cares if he keeps a eye on his students?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, who gives a fuck about privacy rights?
[QUOTE=Perfumly;20432398]That image has no relevance to the context of this thread
at all.[/QUOTE]
Should have banned him with "Why Reply?"
Anyways, I have a feeling that some teacher is getting off on this.
[QUOTE=mobrockers;20432721]He did activate the webcams.[/QUOTE]
He could only see the students when they were using a webcam application, so he was really only viewing their screens.
[QUOTE=mobrockers;20432721]He did activate the webcams.[/QUOTE]
Nope, it clearly says:
[quote]these laptops are used only in the school, and the webcam is [B]accessed when the students have an application like Photo Booth open[/B][/quote]Photo Booth is a webcam application thus they'd have to be using it to see themselves, for this purpose:
[quote]A lot of kids are just [B]on it to check their hair, check their make-up[/B][/quote]
Thus he only sees what they see.
"Yea, so I watch what other students do, got a problem?" :smug:
[QUOTE=Darkcoder;20432797]Nope, it clearly says:
Photo Booth is a webcam application thus they'd have to be using it to see themselves, for this purpose:
Thus he only sees what they see.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I just watched the rest of the vid, I apoligise for trying to prove you wrong while you weren't :3:
[QUOTE=JDK721;20432730]Yeah, who gives a fuck about privacy rights?[/QUOTE]
It's not like he just turned it on and started watching. He can only access the feed when it is started by the user. Not to mention the fact his school owns the computers, so they can do whatever they want with them.
And people though i was paranoid when i put black electrical tape over the Webcam on my old school laptop.
[QUOTE=TMlord95;20432842]It's not like he just turned it on and started watching. He can only access the feed when it is started by the user. Not to mention the fact his school owns the computers, so they can do whatever they want with them.[/QUOTE]
Thats bullshit and you know it.
[QUOTE=mobrockers;20432910]Thats bullshit and you know it.[/QUOTE]
As long as the school has access to the computers, I'm fine with it. This doesn't apply if a student brings his/her laptop from home though, THAT would be wrong, but they OWN the computers, they have access to the software ON the computers, and it's there business what you do on them.
I like how you disagree with me without even having a argument, though.
[quote]
"A lot of kids are just on it to check their hair, check their make-up: the girls... They don't even realize that we are watching. I always like to mess with them and take a picture."[/quote]
[img]http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s208/Scared_Meteor/1264120107237.gif?t=1267204061[/img]
[QUOTE=mobrockers;20432910]Thats bullshit and you know it.[/QUOTE]
Not really. The laptops are pretty much to be used for doing school work, not dicking around on facebook or playing games. They let the students do that when they have free time, but some of the students do it when they should be working. All they are doing is keeping an eye on them to make sure they are working when they should be working.
That guy was kinda creepy, yeah, but that doesn't change anything.
Just in case some of you had any doubts about the school system's ability to render all civil rights null and void.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.