The Lower Merion School District is not going to get off with just a slap on the wrist.
Last week it was revealed that the suburban Philadelphia school district had installed security software that allowed it to activate the webcams on laptops distributed to 2,300 students, no matter if they were in class or at home.
The programme was made public when a 15-year-old student and his parents filed a class action lawsuit against the district, accusing it of violating multiple state and federal laws, and the Fourth Amendment.
Now district officials are facing inquiries from local prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FBI is investigating whether the school district broke any wiretapping or computer intrusion laws. Meanwhile, district officials are in federal court today as the student and his parents seek a temporary restraining order that would prevent the district from retrieving the laptops it has issued and erasing any potential evidence.
Over the weekend new details of the case emerged. District officials claimed the webcams were only activated 42 times, and reiterated their line that the software was only used when a laptop was “reported lost, missing or stolen.”
And the “inappropriate behaviour” that sparked the case also came into focus. (The student and his parents became aware of the programme after school officials accused him of misbehaving at home, and presented an image taken by the webcam as evidence.)
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the school had accused the student of taking or selling drugs. But the student says what the school thought were pills were in fact Mike & Ike candy, a chewy pill-shaped sweet.
No matter what the student was actually doing, it is the district officials who are under scrutiny now. And if they are found guilty of even one of the claims filed against them, someone might be facing detention.
