WebCamGate

            Officials of the Lower Merion School District, near Philadelphia, need to go back to school, not as administrators, but as students.  The school allegedly installed spyware on laptop computers issued to students without telling them or their parents.  The administrators activated the spyware nearly 150 times on different computers taking over 56,000 pictures day and night, at school and at home.  According to one school official, if you take their computers home you have, “no legitimate expectation of privacy.”

            Information systems coordinator for the district, Carol Cafiero, recently made that incredibly silly statement in a court filing.  Allegedly one of the students, Blake Robbins, took a computer home without permission and before paying the $55.00 dollar insurance fee.  This begs the question, why did the school give Robbins a computer?  Robbins’ parents are suing after discovering the pictures taken of their son, including the one on the right asleep in his bedroom.

            I first heard of this case in the teacher’s union magazine, NEA Today.  Many of my readers know that I’m a teacher and a member of the union.  (I often feel like the last conservative in the NEA.)  I believe the school had every right to install the spyware, but they should have informed both students and parents.  If I had been asked to advise, I would have said don’t installed spyware capable of taking webcam pictures, but if the district decided to do so, they should have told everyone.  Also, the school should have stated that if the computers were taken home without permission the spyware would be activated.  The district apparently did none of these things.

While admitting that people “should have a legitimate expectation of privacy,” Cafiero’s attorney Charles Mandracchia stated, “But if you're taking something without permission, how can you cry foul when you shouldn't have it anyway?” 

            That is like saying, if the police are really sure you have a stolen computer in your bedroom they can sneak in to your house and check.  No, Mr. Mandracchia, they can’t.  They have to get a warrant and knock on the door.  You should have read the fourth amendment in law school.  Pull those big dusty books off the shelf and read it again.  The amendment states, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” (Emphasis mine.)  It does not matter whether you sneak in to a home in person or electronically, you have violated the privacy of the residents.

            As Sir Edward Coke said “The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defense against injury and violence as for his repose.”  No level of government, even a school, should be allowed to violate the fortress of the family without cause, due process and a warrant.