View Full Version : So, when your kid's school offers a free laptop ...
buyer beware.
It seems that the laptops can be remotely manipulated by the school authorities which includes turning on the built-in camera.
One girl stated that she would play music while she showered and dressed and is now mortified that someone could have been monitoring her while she was naked.
VIDEO LINK (http://video.foxnews.com/v/4028717/school-will-preserve-evidence-on-laptops-?playlist_id=87249)
Those darn kids, if they'd only listen to advertisers on talk radio, then they'd realize the possibilities. (https://www.gotomypc.com/en_US/entry.tmpl?Action=rgoto&_sf=2)
Another option would be....turn the damned thing off (the camera)
Another option would be....turn the damned thing off (the camera)
They can turn it back on remotely. A small piece of electrical tape would take care of that. Another over the opening of the microphone would also be prudent.
Can they install drivers, remotely?
Can they install drivers, remotely?
Certainly. Give me your e-mail addy, I'll send you a file, execute that file, and then sit back and watch me manipulate your computer right through your firewalls.
ResearchMonkey
2/25/10, 05:42am
Can they install drivers, remotely?I believe the lappy's were pre-configured with remote access for the school.
Why not, its the government, we can trust them.
:lol2:
They could have closed the top, or blocked the mic, and camera,
but they are kids.
Imo kids shouldn't be unmonitored by the parents on a lappy like that.
My cousin lets his kids on wifi unmonitored, and they think I'm too
restrictive by not alowwing the kids here to even have a laptop.
I monitor these kids, and they still slip stuff by me periodically.
Got a warning of illeagle d/ling one time. One of them got a movie off the
wrong site.
Torn.
Part of me sees it as a blatent invasion of privacy worthy of a more permanent destructive solution involving a hot glue gun and/or a soldering iron to prohibit this abuse. But thats probably defacing government property, so for a more mild approach I'd refuse to use or carry the laptop on the privacy basis. Are they a requirement of the school?
The other part of me says the workplace is no different, so why expect otherwise? Is it because they're minors?
I like my Mikes and Ikes and no, they aren't drugs.
I don't know for sure but from what I understand, typically, when schools give laptops, they GIVE laptops. Your boss lends you his.
ResearchMonkey
2/26/10, 05:44am
I like my Mikes and Ikes and no, they aren't drugs.Actually, sugar is a drug. not like on schedule, but it is a drug and I get your point
Actually, sugar is a drug. not like on schedule, but it is a drug and I get your point
I suppose by that definition, I'm living near a large drug operation--producing NaCl.
I don't know for sure but from what I understand, typically, when schools give laptops, they GIVE laptops. Your boss lends you his.
They don't give you the books or the locker, which is why I asked....
ResearchMonkey
2/26/10, 07:33pm
I suppose by that definition, I'm living near a large drug operation--producing NaCl.Sugar is a mood altering compound (as is caffine etc). I know that the mind is ran on salts, but I don't know that SodChlor works quite the same way. However salt does have its place in other functions of the body.
Actually, sugar is a drug. not like on schedule, but it is a drug and I get your point
No, it's a carbohydrate that you crave by instinct. It is not a drug (though it feels like it sometimes).
Who is Mike and http://xtremespeeds.net/pic/smilies/ike.gif
ResearchMonkey
2/26/10, 10:29pm
No, it's a carbohydrate that you crave by instinct. It is not a drug (though it feels like it sometimes).Odd, I thought it was that sugars could pass though the BloodBrainBarrier and have psychoactive effects on mood/emotions/alertness/thought processes.
Oh yeah, it's a carb too.
Parents Angry Over CCTV In School Toilets
Outraged parents have hit out at a school in Birmingham after pupils discovered CCTV cameras in the school's toilets.
Youngsters at Grace Academy in Chelmsley Wood claim they returned from half-term to find staff had installed the cameras without notifying them or their parents.
Some parents are furious at what they say is a "total invasion of privacy" and claim some pupils are so anxious about being watched they are refusing to use the facilities.
One mother whose teenage daughter attends the school is concerned the footage could fall into the wrong hands.
She told the Sunday Mercury: "She came home from school and told me security cameras had been installed in the girl's toilets but we didn't know anything about it.
"You would expect the school to have consulted parents first yet we received no information and no letters have been sent home explaining this decision."
Grace Academy claims the cameras only cover the sink areas and have not yet been activated.
School principal Terry Wales told Sky News: "It's to safeguard our youngsters, many schools are using cameras now.
"We had a parents' forum last night, we explained the arrangements and the parents were satisfied.
"We've found that when it comes to health and safety, children want to feel secure."
But privacy campaigners warned about the psychological effects of the feeling of being watched, even if cameras are not switched on.
Dylan Sharpe from Big Brother Watch told Sky News: "Children are entitled to privacy like anyone else.
"We're raising a generation of children accustomed to being constantly watched and monitored, whether cameras are switched on or not."
Grace Academy already has 26 CCTV cameras watching other parts of the school.
The incident is the latest row to erupt between schools and parents who are concerned about safeguarding their children's privacy.
Last year police were called to a school in Salford after parents were horrified to discover children had been filmed changing into their PE kit.
Although the footage was not misused, police seized the film after negotiating with the school.
In 2007 it was revealed schools had fingerprinted thousands of primary school children without their parent's consent.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families later ruled that if schools want to obtain and store biometric data from children, consent is not required from parents.
Source (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100309/tuk-parents-angry-over-cctv-in-school-to-45dbed5.html)
yeah the UK is getting wacky these days.
No, it's a carbohydrate that you crave by instinct.
instinct? like cavemen clubbing each other over the shit? i doubt it. many folks have no sugar craving whatsoever, and sugar was not very significant nutritionally until more recent historical eras. especially if you're talking sugar in the form you may put in your coffee.
"first you get the sugar, then your get the power, then you get the women..."
instinct? like cavemen clubbing each other over the shit? i doubt it. many folks have no sugar craving whatsoever, and sugar was not very significant nutritionally until more recent historical eras. especially if you're talking sugar in the form you may put in your coffee.
"first you get the sugar, then your get the power, then you get the women..."
Tell that to the grackles that steal sweetener packets from the restaurants around here. Artificial sweeteners are sweeter than sugar.
It just gets better and better.
SOURCE (http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20100415_Lawyer__Laptops_took_thousands_of_photos. html)
Posted on Thu, Apr. 15, 2010
Lawyer: Laptops took thousands of images
By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district.
More than once, the motion asserts, the camera on Robbins' school-issued laptop took photos of Robbins as he slept in his bed. Each time, it fired the images off to network servers at the school district.
Back at district offices, the Robbins motion says, employees with access to the images marveled at the tracking software. It was like a window into "a little LMSD soap opera," a staffer is quoted as saying in an e-mail to Carol Cafiero, the administrator running the program.
"I know, I love it," she is quoted as having replied.
Those details, disclosed in the motion filed late Thursday in federal court by Robbins' attorney, offer a wider glimpse into the now-disabled program that spawned Robbins' lawsuit and has shined an international spotlight on the district.
In the filing, the Penn Valley family claims the district's records show that the controversial tracking system captured more than 400 photos and screen images from 15-year-old Blake Robbins' school-issued laptop during two weeks last fall, and that "thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes."
Robbins, a sophomore at Harriton High School, and his parents, Michael and Holly Robbins, contend e-mails turned over to them by the district suggest Cafiero "may be a voyeur" who might have viewed some of the photos on her home computer.
The motion says Cafiero, who has been placed on paid leave, has failed to turn that computer over to the plaintiffs despite a court order to do so, and asks a judge to sanction her.
[more]
Tell that to the grackles that steal sweetener packets from the restaurants around here. Artificial sweeteners are sweeter than sugar.
i'll let you handle the bird conversations.
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