Judge: School officials must clear ‘webcamgate’ comments with lawyers

[maddezmom]

Judge: School officials must clear ‘webcamgate’ comments with lawyers
By Joseph Tanfani and Larry King

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

The unusual order, signed by a federal judge today, means people running the elite Lower Merion School District can't say a word about the laptop cameras or any other issues in the suit without giving the other side a copy of what they want to say - plus six hours' notice.

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The court order also says the district must preserve all computer files - particularly captured images - and can't change the software on the laptops without permission.
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The district contends the Robbinses failed to pay a required $55 insurance fee - and therefore, Blake was barred from taking home a laptop. The school has a pool of "loaners" for students who haven't paid the fee or are waiting for a new laptop.

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The order says Robbins will turn over the laptop to a technician who will make a mirror image of its hard drive. The teen is to get a replacement laptop - as soon as school officials receive any unpaid insurance fees.


more:http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/85011977.html

Lawyer: L. Merion is mum on number of webcam pictures
By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News

[e-mail] 215-854-5255

IT REMAINS unknown to the public exactly how many photos Lower Merion School District officials secretly snapped using the embedded webcams on laptops issued to high school students in the district.

And the wealthy Montgomery County district, which is now under investigation by the FBI and local authorities, apparently is in no rush to turn that information over to the attorney who exposed the highly controversial "security feature" in a bombshell lawsuit last week.

Mark Haltzman, who filed the invasion-of-privacy suit on behalf of a Harriton High School student, popped off at the district yesterday outside the Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia. He said school officials were blocking his efforts to determine how many students had been photographed.

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As the court hearing was under way, U.S. Attorney Michael Levy took the unusual step of confirming the ongoing criminal probe. He said the Justice Department was working with the FBI, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office and Lower Merion police to determine if the photographing constituted a crime.

"The issues raised by these allegations are wide-ranging and involve the meeting of the new world of cyberspace with that of physical space," Levy said in a statement.


MORE:http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/85022552.html

[maddezmom]

1. A blog the FBI should read in the Spycamgate investigation

The FBI may want to start its investigation with a thorough reading and archiving of “Best Thing Since Sliced Bread,” a blog started last year by Lower Meridian School District technician Mike Perbix.


The FBI may also want to hire as a security consultant, Stryde Hax, who discovered the blog. He reviewed the school district staff list and went scouring the Internet for information on the district’s three network technicians. The school superintendent has said previously that “only two members of the technology department could access the security feature.” Judging from his blog, Perbix is one of them.

more:http://trueslant.com/KashmirHill/2010/02/23/a-blog-the-fbi-should-read-in-the-spycamgate-investigation/

[Patiod]

2. My former IT guy sent me that Stryde Hax link

really interesting (what I could understand of it)

[pokerfan]

3. School officials continue to dodge questions

After the lawsuit over Harriton High School's alleged webcam surveillance triggered an FBI investigation, you would hope school officials would come clean about what they characterize as completely legitimate security activities. Yet Lower Merion School District's response to parents seems to raise more questions than it answers.

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/21801.cfm

[tonysam]

4. They're limited by what they can say

Meanwhile the plaintiffs' lawyers can say whatever the hell they want to poison the well.

[Matariki]

5. Your response to these threads are interesting Tonysam

You seem very much in the school district's camp and very much against the students and parents who were spied on.

Can you explain your position?

[beevul]

6. I too would like to understand.

Can you explain your position?