Subpoenas issued in Pennsylvania school webcam investigation
It appears that law enforcement officials are wasting no time in their investigation into the “peeping tom” webcam case at some Pennsylvania schools.
Just this past Thursday it was revealed that a class action lawsuit had been filed against the Lower Merion School District when it was discovered that it was possible for the schools to activate webcams in school issued laptops. No notification had been given to students or their families of this feature, and the news started to break around the world of this invasion of privacy.
By Saturday it had been revealed that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Montgomery County detectives had launched investigations into whether the school district violated wiretap or computer-intrusion laws. And comes the news from Philly.com that no time is being wasted in issuing subpoenas to the beleaguered school district for all of the records that relate to the reported 42 instances of the webcams being activated.
The problem for the school district is that this has moved far beyond a class action lawsuit now. District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told Philly.com yesterday, “We’re going to be looking into the situation to see if a criminal investigation is warranted.” The federal courts have also received a request to prohibit the school district from talking to any students or their families about the case, and that all files and records related to the case are to be preserved during the ongoing investigations.
The coming week is sure to be a rough one for this school district as more information comes out and more filings are made. In the meantime, students are covering their webcams with tape and post-it notes just to be on the safe side.
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February 21st, 2010
Considering there has been malware in the wild for years that can grab pics from your cam, physically covering it or turning it to face a wall or something when not actively in use is a wise practice.
February 23rd, 2010
If they were to activate the cam on a PC that was set up in a student’s bedroom (a likely possibility), the resulting images could easily lead to child pornography charges.
This is just dumb all around. Laptop Lojack could have been used, or simply encrypt & insure the laptops so that any stolen devices are written off & replaced.
February 7th, 2011
Great site, where did you come up with the knowledge in this article? I’m glad I found it though, ill be checking back soon to see what other articles you have.