Tracking Scandal in Suburban Town
A little while back, I got wind of some pretty nasty stuff going on at Lower Merion High School, my alma matter (also Kobe Bryant’s) located in the Philadelphia area. Recently after my graduation in 2007, the school decided to give every student a MacBook for their personal and academic use. The school district reserved the right to turn on the video camera on the laptops to try to recover stolen or misplaced computers, but somehow didn’t make it clear to parents or students that the cameras could be turned on at any time. In the end, “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,” reports Philly.com.
The school district ended up getting caught with thousands of webcam photos of students, many of which were not theft related at all. However, several missing laptops have been recovered over the last year due to this asset tracking system. When I first heard about these events in my hometown, I was disgusted. How did the school think it could get away with such blatant violations of student privacy? But at the same time, the laptops do belong to the school, and it makes total sense to track valuables like computers when they are allocated to high school students. Dear Lower Merion High School: next time, draft a waiver. Also, make sure a computer is actually stolen before engaging in covert asset tracking.
Sincerely,
Gabrielle
Class of ‘07





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