QOTD: Should Schools Use Laptops to Watch Kids?
Over the last few weeks there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of schools monitoring students using school-owned laptops.
Media coverage of the lawsuit filed by student Blake J. Robbins of Philadelphia has been extensive. Robbins was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" by the Vice Principal of his school and the VP provided a photo taken by the webcam as evidence.
The school has since said the monitoring software was installed to help identify thieves and maintains that the tracking-security feature was limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen. According to the school district, this feature has only been used for the limited purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop. A FAQ from the superintendent of the school district, Dr. Christopher McGinley, says the tracking feature or web cam isn't ussed for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever.
Today a new case has come to light in which a school in New York has been using monitoring software to keep an eye on students during classes. Very different to the school in Philadelphia, Vice Principal of the Bronx-based school, Dan Ackerman, openly admits to monitoring what the students are doing during school-time; though it's unclear if they keep an eye on them outside of school hours.
Today's Question of the Day is: Do You Think Schools Should Be Allowed to Monitor Students Via School-owned Laptops?

Couldn't have said it any better. This is a clear violation of privacy (esp. for a female student).
The American family system is broken.
Time to wake up people.
can't they just packet sniff the student's laptops when they are at school?
Because the kids shouldn't be the ones correcting the situation.
The problem doesnt necessarily lie with the schools either.
Today i was in an army recruting office and noticed a piece of tape over the microphone on a recruiters laptop. Im sure his superiors do not install any software to monitor his voice, but this is just a counter-measure from anybody hacking into the system and monitoring.
The piece of tape wud be a safe guard from the schools and anybody else who decides to sneak some malware onto these kids computers.
Wow, sexist much?
Or even better, don't get laptops with webcams built in. I work for a fortune 100 firm, and I don't do anything that requires a "special" level of security; however our company buys laptops and cellphones with no camreas. Too much risk of spying/corporate espionage. It's not hard to plug a webcam into a usb port if you actually need one.
On a side note, perhaps the schools could get them computers that they'll actually be able to learn skills from which could help them get a job.. just a thought.
On the topic as a whole; is it really the school's job to monitor what the student is doing OUTSIDE of school? I could possibly see monitoring the activities on the computer (what sites, applications, etc) are being used to make sure it's within the guidelines of the intended use / legal. But certainly not monitoring personal behavior.
University's make most of they're budget through the cost of entering school , not through the cost of tax payer money. Hell getting into a university costs about as much as 10 or 20 Macbook pro's if they're the expensive kind.