FBI Investigating Student Laptop, Candy Scandal

[aweadam]

Rofl... This is so bad. There has clearly been dishonesty.

The administration has created a pay-site for select faculty to view live video and galleries of the school students.

 

[TheDuke]

Mike & Ikes are pretty hardcore

 

[KC8DKT]

[citation][nom]vishon[/nom]I'd like to know what sort of illegal pills look like Mike & Ike candies. And furthermore, how could they establish he was eating pills (note the plural), or swallowing them when its a supposedly a single still picture?[/citation]

Your right, it sure sounds like VIDEO to me. Some one better do some jail time over this if it was VIDEO.

 

[jsc]

The only way this could have been worse is if the student had been female.

killersmurf, from the original story - laptops provided by school, student disciplined for "inappropriate behavior", nothing about theft.

 

[aweadam]

Omfg, who was the IDIOT who saw this kid "popping pills", and decided that they needed to DISCIPLINE this child for "illegal activity"? The only illegal activity here was spying on the kid in the first place! Nevertheless, it it a true testament to the administration's idiocy that they decided to use the photo as evidence, when they should have known that parents and the mf'n FBI would be all over their nuts once news got out about their ability to spy on students.

 

[pharge]

Well... was that laptop a stolen or lost laptop? Was that what the student was accused for?

If not, the school offical is using the remote function beyon what it is supposed to be.

Unless it was handled by the police officers... it should not be tolerated

 

[1st duke of marlborough]

Far as I'm concerned the kid got what he deserved and the school should not be sued. Why? Because the laptop the kid was using was given out by the school! They have every right to do whatever the hell they want with school property. If you don't want the school to snoop on you at home, then don't take the damn handout! You take federal handouts, this is the price you pay: you lose your privacy, your security, your freedom. Let this be a lesson to all those nitwits who love taking government handouts, be they federal or state. Think twice about what you give up in return!

 

[thegreathuntingdolphin]

Although the implementation of this system was bad (as was the idea), I don't think the student was disciplined for his actions at home (or selling mike and ikes). The school routinely does this (this is the 42nd time in the last 14 months) to find lost or stolen macbooks.

IF the macbook was stolen or reported lost, then the school didn't do anything wrong, legally at least (this is similar to any phone or pc app that when reported stolen or lost takes pictures and transmits locations).

I have a really hard time believing the school disciplined a student for unsubstantiated behaviors in his home that were viewed remotely. My guess is that the kid probably had a loner macbook (which you are not allowed to take off the schools property) and took it home. The school did inventory and it was missing, so they thought it was stolen and turned on the camera. Once they saw the kid who checked it out, they disciplined him for taking the macbook when he wasn't supposed to.

Overall I wish the media and like would stop reporting on this case until more information is present. So far I have heard why the student claims his was disciplined but not from the school directly...

 

[thegreathuntingdolphin]

Also, has it been proven the kid was disciplined? A lot of news sources keep saying he was, but I read one report that the vice principal told the kid they thought he might be engaging in improper behavior not that they disciplined him for selling drugs (which were claimed to be mike & ikes).

 

[pythy]

So that's what this "improper behavior" I keep hearing was, presumably taking some illegal pills. All this time I was thinking he was just looking up porn and jerking off.....

 

[kingnoobe]

They don't have a defense. They knew the kid had it just not paid for it. Um ok so why do you need to turn on the camera.. When if all else fails you could simply call the police to go get it, or take it to civil court. I highly doubt the school just said here you go take it home we don't need you to sign anything.

There is no excuse for what the school did her. And this is not a "media turning a bit of rain into a thunderstorm". This is serious. All we know about is this kid we don't know if it happened to any other kids.

 

[kingnoobe]

Also to duke did you just say that with a straight face... Honestly.. The school said it was for a theft purpose only, and in no way was to be used otherwise.

Great or you missing a couple braincells? They went to punish the kid for inapporaite crap at home. NOT THEFT! And everything else implys they knew the kid had it. So just read above.

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]Cons29[/nom]invasion of privacy. what if someone was changing his/her clothes at that time? this is not good[/citation]
And now you know what...
I want to become IT at this school. But as a private contractor of course.
Mix those with the fact that I'm Canadian, and the most I'd get slapped with is invasion of privacy, assuming I don't record it (taking our age of consent laws and that courts don't like students and teachers having relationships, even if the student is of legal age, hence the private contractor part).
A pervert can dream can't they?

=)

 

[aweadam]

Shouldn't school prepare people for the REAL world? If so, why distribute Macs?

 

[voxleo]

Ummm,.... still missing the logic train on the attempted justification of this "security feature" to begin with. If it were a LOJACK, ok, but how is video (with or without sound) still image of any practical value to "determine the location" of the laptop unless the camera happens to point at a recognizable landmark (which is not likely to be where most would use a laptop)? Seems like it might only be useful if you could recognize the person or their surrounding environment which would mean you would have to already know who took it anyway, and since the school gave them to all the students, it wouldn't likely be one of them TAKING it, but someone who wouldn't be known to the people who have access to the remote feature... Am I the only one who thinks that even if that were disclosed up front it just doesn't MAKE SENSE?

 

[WyomingKnott]

I wonder how many other students have been photographed or "filmed" (videod?) at home, with the school not taking any action. I sincerely hope that this practice is a felony.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Did I not read somewhere that this laptop had not been paid for.
There fore they used their method of theft recover which is to turn on the cam and snap a picture to try and catch a thief.
I don't support them or think what was done is right and I also agree the pervs were likely looking for naked schoolgirls, I have no trust in people... lol But they might have a defense if this guy didn't pay and they were reposing the unit.

I wonder how many other students have been photographed or "filmed" (videod?) at home, with the school not taking any action. I sincerely hope that this practice is a felony.

Apparently quite a few students had noticed the LED next to the camera coming on from time to time to the point where a few had stuck tape over the lens. And to the numpty's who cannot read, the laptops were given to the students by the school after the parents had signed an agreement, so they were allowed, even encouraged to take them home but the spying through web cam bit was of course not disclosed or mentioned in that agreement.

 

[bill gates is your daddy]

$100 says the Vice Principal has got about 500GB worth of kiddie porn on his machine.

 

[Parrdacc]

Invasion of privacy is invasion of privacy period imo. It seems from everything I read the student in question did nothing wrong. That and other students noticing the web cams are seeming to active leads me to believe something is up in that school. The school seems to be dancing on coals and trying to come up with a legit reason for what they did but failing. So far anyway, I am still siding with the student on this one and hope the school gets nailed hard. Schools need to learn that their authority ends at LEAST when it hits the doorstep of a persons home.

 

[grieve]

I am having a realy hard time believing a school could mess up this bad... There HAS to be more or missing details here. I mean this is SO crazy it can't be true!

If the details presented to us in the last few days are the truth then i will agree with this:
[citation][nom]bill gates is your daddy[/nom]$100 says the Vice Principal has got about 500GB worth of kiddie porn on his machine.[/citation]

 

[georgekn3mp]

Privacy FAILS aside...

1. What school district can afford Macbooks "for every student" in this economy? They could have gotten 3 or more EE's for every Mac. The school board that approved that expense needs to be recalled too...

2. Can someone explain the "educational" purposes of having a webcam in the first place as stated? Unless the kids are telecommuting to school, they really don't need live webcams. Imagine the abuse 16-year-olds could get into 😉. The Net has enough bad influences lol.

3. If they needed conferencing, WebEx doesn't need live video from the end-users, so that couldn't be it...

4. If they bring them to school, what student would be paying attention in class instead of farming on WoW?

5. If these were strictly for home use, then why were they concerned because it was "missing"? How would they know in the first place?

 

[thegreathuntingdolphin]

And that's my problem with this whole thing: Not enough verified information.

Most of what is out there about the discipline, the supposed mike and ike drug deal, and "spying" is all from the student. The school has basically just said there is a lot of misinformation out there but hasn't cleared anything up (probably because, ironically, they can't release information about students because of privacy reasons).

Things that need to be confirmed:
1) Can the students take their laptops home?
2) Was the laptop reported missing or stolen?
3) Was the student in question actually disciplined or did the vice principal just tell him they were worried about some behavior of his?
4) If other students know about the monitoring, did the student in question see it turn on and do something to spite the school?
5) What inappropriate behavior is the student accused of doing?

I imagine all these will be cleared up when the FBI probe is done. In the mean time, I wish the media would help clear this up or actually confirm something rather than reporting the student's side of the story as fact.

 

[jon1245]

@thegreathuntingdolphin

You're making broad and wide assumptions condoning the actions of a federally funded entity while condemning the actions of a child who, by all reports, was doing nothing more than eating candy. By condemning the press, you give into the notion that the US government is an all powerful entity who should answer to no one but itself. A lot of people forget that the US government was meant to serve the people and not the other way around. Free press is just one mechanism built into our system (by the founding fathers) to uncover and reign in any abusive behavior by those in power.

And your question in regards to whether he had been disciplined or not is moot as this is what instigated the lawsuit.

 

[G-Systems]

This is great publicity for Mike and Ike...

I mean, really... I haven't eaten them in years, yet I have a big box sitting beside my computer in the wake of this.

Conspiracy? 🙂

 

[zachary k]

i don't care if he was caught murdering babies, they had no right to spy on him. and i don't care what twist they put on it, it is spying.