The Lower Merion School District has settled the lawsuit filed by student Blake Robbins.
Robbins will receive about $175,000, a second student who also sued will receive about $10,000 and the lawyer representing both of them will be paid $425,000 in fees.
This ties a nice neat bow in the story except for the fact no one ever answered any questions about what the school district was doing photographing its students at home and who specifically authorized this.
Another interesting fact is that many of the articles dealing with these issues have been removed from the Philadelphia Daily News website. I find this interesting because it further obscures the fact that nothing was resolved in this situation - there was no fact-finding or deposition of responsible parties in the case.
The school district paid out some cash and it all went away...even the newspaper articles detailing the fact that the head of technology for the school district refused to answer questions when she received a subpoena, pleading the fifth amendment protection against self-incrimination.
The Associated Press articles on these subjects have also been deleted.
Here are a few links that still work
From The Week:
http://theweek.com/article/index/202105/Outrage_update_When_school_laptops_are_bedroom_spies
From The Inquisitr:
http://www.inquisitr.com/70250/school-admin-in-webcam-spying-case-invokes-5th-amendment/
From PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362791,00.asp
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Lower Merion School District Laptop Surviellance
In recent news regarding the high school laptop surveillance case in suburban Philadelphia, the school has hired a law firm and a computer forensics company to investigate the policies of the school district with respect to the surveillance capabilities of the school issued laptops.
From the Philadelphia Daily News:
From the Philadelphia Daily News:
The long-awaited report, conducted by the Ballard Spahr law firm and a computer-forensics company, was released last night after investigators reviewed about 500,000 pages of documents and interviewed 42 witnesses, in addition to the data collected by Lower Merion's laptop-tracking software.From the Philadelphia Inquirer:Investigators retrieved from the district's databases nearly 58,000 webcam photos and screenshots, many of which were captured by laptops that had been found after having been reported stolen or missing.
So, apparently the surveillance technology was often deployed when a laptop was reported lost or stolen, but then not turned off once the laptop was recovered. This is one of many unanswered questions - Why was the surveillance kept up when laptops were returned or recovered?The report, released Monday night, found that the software activated by the district in the last two years captured nearly 58,000 images, mostly from lost or stolen laptops.
But because employees frequently failed to turn off the tracking system, more than 50,000 of those images were taken after the computers had been recovered and given back to students.
It's also important to note that this investigation report was prepared by the law firm that the school district has hired to defend it in the lawsuit:
Though billed as an independent investigation, the report was prepared by lawyers from Ballard Spahr, the law firm the district has hired to defend it in the lawsuit filed by Harriton sophomore Blake Robbins and his parents.There are other questions left unanswered by the report:
The Philly Daily News also notes:According to the report, Robbins borrowed a laptop from the school last October because the one he had been issued was damaged. A technician turned on his Web cam after officials realized he had taken the loaner computer off-campus - and that he had not paid the $55 insurance fee required of every student.
But investigators said they had conflicting accounts from assistant principal Lindy Matkso and technician Kyle O'Brien about who ordered the activation and why.
They kept tracking Robbins' laptop even after one technician e-mailed O'Brien to say that the laptop had been located. The teen's computer was "currently online at home," the e-mail said...
O'Brien, the district technician, has testified that Harriton High Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko had told him to activate the tracking on Robbins' computer, but Matsko testified that she never gave that order, according to the report.The full text of the report is posted at the school district website here.
Friday, April 16, 2010
High School Lap-Top Surveillance Revisited
During Winter Term, we talked a number of times about the situation at Harriton High School in the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania.
A student, Blake Robbins, and his parents have sued the district for illegal surveillance using the web-cam on the student's school issued laptop.
Initially the school district was indignant and insisted that, despite the fact that they had never told anyone that they had the capability of spying on students (and their families) using the laptop webcams, the webcams were only activated under certain very clearly delineated circumstances.
As is often the situation in legal cases, things are moving very slowly. A few weeks ago, there was news that the chief tech administrator for the school district was refusing to honor a court subpoena to appear and answer questions about the case.
The judge ordered the tech administrator, Carol Cafiero, to appear and she pleaded the fifth to every question. In other words, she declined to answer any questions in order to avoid incriminating herself.
The latest news now is that there appear to be hundreds if not thousands of pictures of students from Harriton High School that were taken with the laptop webcams. And not just pictures either - the laptops also captured text messages that students were sending back and forth to each other.
In e-mails made public this week a staff member at the high school is quoted as saying to Cafiero, the tech administrator, that reading the students' text messages was like:
to which Cafiero replied:
It will be interesting to see if and how this issue is resolved.
A student, Blake Robbins, and his parents have sued the district for illegal surveillance using the web-cam on the student's school issued laptop.
Initially the school district was indignant and insisted that, despite the fact that they had never told anyone that they had the capability of spying on students (and their families) using the laptop webcams, the webcams were only activated under certain very clearly delineated circumstances.
As is often the situation in legal cases, things are moving very slowly. A few weeks ago, there was news that the chief tech administrator for the school district was refusing to honor a court subpoena to appear and answer questions about the case.
The judge ordered the tech administrator, Carol Cafiero, to appear and she pleaded the fifth to every question. In other words, she declined to answer any questions in order to avoid incriminating herself.
The latest news now is that there appear to be hundreds if not thousands of pictures of students from Harriton High School that were taken with the laptop webcams. And not just pictures either - the laptops also captured text messages that students were sending back and forth to each other.
In e-mails made public this week a staff member at the high school is quoted as saying to Cafiero, the tech administrator, that reading the students' text messages was like:
"a little LMSD soap opera,"[note: LMSD=Lower Merion School District]
to which Cafiero replied:
"I know, I love it,"The school district website now has a notice that acknowledges that there are thousands of pictures of students that were taken with the laptop webcams:
A substantial number of webcam photos have been recovered in the investigation. We have proposed a process to Judge DuBois whereby each family of a student whose image appears in any such photos will be notified and given the opportunity to view such photographs...This is quite a different stance from the school district's initial claims that activation of the webcams happened in a very limited number of instances and only in certain specific circumstances:
Also, the plaintiffs' Motion suggests that the LANrev tracking feature may have been used for the purposes of "spying" on students. While we deeply regret the mistakes and misguided actions that have led us to this situation, at this late stage of the investigation we are not aware of any evidence that District employees used any LANrev webcam photographs or screenshots for such inappropriate purposes.
Starting in 2008, the district used a remote control program to snap pictures - but only, they said, when a laptop was reported lost, missing or stolen. This feature was activated 42 times this school year, school officials said.There seems to be some discrepancy between only using the webcam 42 times when a laptop is reported lost, missing or stolen and the thousands of pictures and text messages that appear to have swept up by the school district.
It will be interesting to see if and how this issue is resolved.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Nineteen Eighty-Four
In thinking about George Orwell's 1984, we discussed the Newspeak language that is a central piece of the ruling party's effort to control the ability of people to think for themselves.
Newspeak radically changes the English language so that any thoughts that the ruling party deems to be inappropriate (or "thoughtcrime") will not have words in Newspeak to express them.
My initial reaction was that the goals of Newspeak would work for a limited number of people, but would not work for an entire population because, ultimately, words are dependent on thoughts, feelings and ideas, and not the other way around.
Thoughts and ideas are the precursors to language.
The people most resistant to the aims of Newspeak would be artists.
To me, this is the work of an artist - to have thoughts and feelings outside the realm of language and culture and then to bring these ideas back to the community and express them in a way that other people can understand.
1984 - The Movie vs. 1984 - The Book
Another thing that we discussed was the translation of Orwell's masterpiece from print to the screen. I found the portrayal of Orwell's dystopia to be somewhat overwhelming on the screen and felt that, in a way, it overshadowed the ideas that had driven the print version.
To me, the real work of Orwell was in creating the world that the story takes place in. The story itself was a function of the creation of this world.
In doing a little online research today for writings about 1984 and the plot and its ending in particular, I came across an interesting piece of writing by Philip Palmer, a British screenwriter and science fiction author.
Palmer argues that 1984 is a work of science fiction despite some people's resistance to this idea.
He backs up his argument with a few key ideas:
Newspeak radically changes the English language so that any thoughts that the ruling party deems to be inappropriate (or "thoughtcrime") will not have words in Newspeak to express them.
My initial reaction was that the goals of Newspeak would work for a limited number of people, but would not work for an entire population because, ultimately, words are dependent on thoughts, feelings and ideas, and not the other way around.
Thoughts and ideas are the precursors to language.
The people most resistant to the aims of Newspeak would be artists.
To me, this is the work of an artist - to have thoughts and feelings outside the realm of language and culture and then to bring these ideas back to the community and express them in a way that other people can understand.
1984 - The Movie vs. 1984 - The Book
Another thing that we discussed was the translation of Orwell's masterpiece from print to the screen. I found the portrayal of Orwell's dystopia to be somewhat overwhelming on the screen and felt that, in a way, it overshadowed the ideas that had driven the print version.
To me, the real work of Orwell was in creating the world that the story takes place in. The story itself was a function of the creation of this world.
In doing a little online research today for writings about 1984 and the plot and its ending in particular, I came across an interesting piece of writing by Philip Palmer, a British screenwriter and science fiction author.
Palmer argues that 1984 is a work of science fiction despite some people's resistance to this idea.
He backs up his argument with a few key ideas:
First, this is a book based around concepts - speculations and extrapolations about a future world which are challenging and fasinating and would make the book worth reading even if it weren't so well written. Newspeak, IngSoc, the notion of a perpetual and non-existent war, the control of memory, the Two Minute Hate, the factories where fictitious news is created, Room 101 - these are all fantastic, audacious ideas that linger in the mind and the imagination long after the book has been finished....Part of my dislike for the movie version of 1984 was the fact that, with the language and exposition stripped away, we are left with the plot, which I feel is a weak link in the original work.
Another key fictional strategy which we SF readers look for in our books is world building. This of course is a vital element of both the science fiction and the fantasy genres. A great science fiction novel will create a planetary civilisation, or even a galactic civilisation that is visualised and conceived in the finest detail ...
For all these reasons, it seems to me that 1984 is a great novel which is also a great science fiction novel. And even its flaws are typical of the flaws to be found in many otherwise fine SF novels; namely, a tendency to favour exposition about the minute details of the imagined world over dramatic development and character interaction.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Online Education
In class the other day, I mentioned that I had seen a free online university, but couldn't find the link anymore. I found it again.
It's the University of the People.
It's the University of the People.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Class Work for March 10th
In Mark Pesce's video that we watched on Monday, he talked about the RateMyProfessors web site and the way that it allowed students to share their classroom experiences with other students and helped to create a better educational experience.
He also talked about the growth of online education.
We're going to explore these ideas today and then plan to talk about them in class on Friday.
RateMyProfessors.com
So, one thing you can do is to choose a college you'd like to attend or you can choose to look at a course here at Clatsop that you haven't taken yet, but would like to.
I'll list some of the 4-year schools in the Pacific Northwest below:
Class schedule for Oregon State University for 2011
Class schedule for University of Oregon for 2011
Class schedule for Portland State University for 2011
Class schedule for Western Oregon University for 2011
Class schedule for Oregon Institute of Technology for 2011
Class schedule for University of Washington for 2011
Class schedule for Washington State University for 2011 (various campuses)
If you don't see a school you're interested in listed, it usually isn't too hard to search out their course listings.
So, find a class you'd like to take and find the name of a professor who teaches that class.
Then, go to RateMyProfessors.com and look up the ratings for the professor you chose. Do you still want to take the class? Why or why not?
On-line Education
Mark Pesce also talked about the growth of online education. Specifically, he mentioned StraighterLine.com
Here is a link to the StraighterLine website.
StraighterLine is not listed at RateMy Professors, but I did find some forum discussions here about the classes offered by StraighterLine.
I also found a few opinion pieces about StrighterLine -
From an English professor at the State University of NewYork - Buffalo
From eCampus News
From techdirt
Here are links for some other web-based educational companies.
Capella University
Some reviews of the educational experience at Capella
Kaplan University - connected with the Kaplan Tutoring company and owned by the Washington Post.
University of Phoenix
Gatlin Education Services
Look at some of the course offerings, pricing and how each different company organizes their system.
Some of these online educational services have been criticized for the level of student loan default that occurs at their schools. An article from azcentral.com (a joint effort between the Phoenix NBC station, the Arizona Republic newspaper and La Voz spanish language newspaper) talks about the University of Phoenix paying recruiters to enroll new students. The idea here is that the recruiters were signing up students who weren't prepared for classes and so the students ended up dropping out and then defaulting on their loans:
Government Spending
Here is a link to the website Maek Pesce was describing in the video. Check out some places where the money is being spent. You can check for the zip code 97103 (or others) and where the money is being spent locally. If the information helpful?
He also talked about the growth of online education.
We're going to explore these ideas today and then plan to talk about them in class on Friday.
RateMyProfessors.com
So, one thing you can do is to choose a college you'd like to attend or you can choose to look at a course here at Clatsop that you haven't taken yet, but would like to.
I'll list some of the 4-year schools in the Pacific Northwest below:
Class schedule for Oregon State University for 2011
Class schedule for University of Oregon for 2011
Class schedule for Portland State University for 2011
Class schedule for Western Oregon University for 2011
Class schedule for Oregon Institute of Technology for 2011
Class schedule for University of Washington for 2011
Class schedule for Washington State University for 2011 (various campuses)
If you don't see a school you're interested in listed, it usually isn't too hard to search out their course listings.
So, find a class you'd like to take and find the name of a professor who teaches that class.
Then, go to RateMyProfessors.com and look up the ratings for the professor you chose. Do you still want to take the class? Why or why not?
On-line Education
Mark Pesce also talked about the growth of online education. Specifically, he mentioned StraighterLine.com
Here is a link to the StraighterLine website.
StraighterLine is not listed at RateMy Professors, but I did find some forum discussions here about the classes offered by StraighterLine.
I also found a few opinion pieces about StrighterLine -
From an English professor at the State University of NewYork - Buffalo
From eCampus News
From techdirt
Here are links for some other web-based educational companies.
Capella University
Some reviews of the educational experience at Capella
Kaplan University - connected with the Kaplan Tutoring company and owned by the Washington Post.
University of Phoenix
Gatlin Education Services
Look at some of the course offerings, pricing and how each different company organizes their system.
Some of these online educational services have been criticized for the level of student loan default that occurs at their schools. An article from azcentral.com (a joint effort between the Phoenix NBC station, the Arizona Republic newspaper and La Voz spanish language newspaper) talks about the University of Phoenix paying recruiters to enroll new students. The idea here is that the recruiters were signing up students who weren't prepared for classes and so the students ended up dropping out and then defaulting on their loans:
Barron's (the financial weekly published by Dow Jones Inc.) also reported on a Department of Education investigation of Kaplan University:Recruiting allegations
For-profit schools have been dogged for years by complaints that they use aggressive recruiting and misleading information to entice students to enroll. Some schools have paid recruiters according to the number of people they sign up. That has led to claims that students are being admitted who are more likely to drop out, never get degrees and default on their loans.
In February, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said it found violations of incentive compensation rules at 32 schools, mostly for-profits, from 1998 to 2009. That included a 2009 case in South Carolina where the school paid bonuses of $52,500 to 17 employees.
Arizona has had its share of allegations of recruiting violations.
In 2004, a federal review of the University of Phoenix depicted a school hungry to enroll new students. The review said the school threatened and intimidated its recruiters in meetings and e-mails, pressuring them to enroll unqualified students. The university strongly disputed the findings. The school's parent company, Apollo Group Inc., later settled the matter for $9.8 million without admitting wrongdoing.
In December, the University of Phoenix settled a whistleblower lawsuit in federal court for $78.5 million over recruiter-pay practices. Two former enrollment counselors sued in 2004, alleging the school defrauded the government of billions of dollars in financial aid and violated federal law by paying recruiters based on enrollment. The company said the pay practices were legal because enrollment was not the sole determinant. The university did not admit any wrongdoing.
I think the point here is not that online education is bad, but that students should be aware of what they're getting into before paying (or borrowing) their money.THE WASHINGTON POST COVERS government agencies as closely as any daily newspaper. Yet an investor would have had to scroll through the Washington Post Co.'s (WPO) 10-K filing last week to see news of a Department of Education inquiry into its important education unit.
The Post's education business, anchored by the Kaplan for-profit college and test-prep businesses, contributed 58% of 2009's revenue and all of its $195 million of operating income.
Within that operation, all the growth is from the "higher education" segment, where revenue grew 33% in 2009 and operating income grew almost 60%, to $275 million. Higher education enrollment last year grew 32%, online enrollment 47%.
Outcomes at Kaplan higher-ed, however, don't compare impressively with other for-profit education enterprises. The online Kaplan University segment (about half of the higher-ed unit's revenues) gets 87.5% of its receipts from some $780 million worth of government student aid. That's close to the federal program's 90% limit, and higher than many other for-profits.
Student-loan default rates are one inverse measure of the benefit received by students. Kaplan higher-ed's numbers have been getting worse. In the first two years after graduation, defaults at four of the school's 33 reporting units were above 25%, which is the level at which they are at risk of Department of Education sanctions. At the online Kaplan University, defaults rose from 6% for 2005 grads to 13% for 2007 grads, with preliminary numbers for 2008 worse, around 16%.
Most intriguing in the 10-K is the passing (and first) mention that the Education Department has been conducting a "Program Review" of Kaplan University's main offices in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., since September. The Post business desk seemed not to notice any of this, but Post investors might want to.
Government Spending
Here is a link to the website Maek Pesce was describing in the video. Check out some places where the money is being spent. You can check for the zip code 97103 (or others) and where the money is being spent locally. If the information helpful?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Update on the school laptop surveillance case
The assistant principal accused of spying on a student using a remotely-activated web-cam has responded that she has never used the web-cam to spy on students' behavior at home.
The student involved stated that:
A number of other families in the school district have signed a petition opposing the lawsuit. The comments section at this last link is pretty interesting. The link is from a local Philadelphia newspaper. Some of the comments focus on privacy issues, others accuse the family involved of seeking publicity and money from their lawsuit.
This is certainly an interesting story!
The student involved stated that:
We have no reason to doubt Ms. Matsko's statement that she did not personally activate the Webcam on my computer, but that has never been the issue. The issue is that we know someone accessed my Webcam and provided Ms. Matsko with a screenshot and a Webcam picture of me at home in my bedroom.
A number of other families in the school district have signed a petition opposing the lawsuit. The comments section at this last link is pretty interesting. The link is from a local Philadelphia newspaper. Some of the comments focus on privacy issues, others accuse the family involved of seeking publicity and money from their lawsuit.
This is certainly an interesting story!
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