School Webcams Secretly Photographed Students

When Pennsylvania's Lower Merion School District loaned MacBooks to students, it installed security software that could remotely activate their webcams. The district claimed the software switched on only when a laptop was suspected of being stolen, but it captured more than 56,000 images without disclosing the capability to students or parents. A high school student named Blake Robbins sued for invasion of privacy after a teacher accused him of dealing drugs based on one photograph, which Robbins said showed him eating Mike and Ike candy. In 2010, the district settled his case and a second student's lawsuit for $610,000, including $175,000 for Robbins, $10,000 for the other student, and $425,000 for Robbins's lawyer.

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