The story of a school district that used the webcams in laptops it distributed to students as a handy way to spy on them at home has caused outrage and a class-action lawsuit. And indeed, the idea of the school watching my child and family without my knowledge is pretty unsettling. I can sure imagine some uncomfortable IEP meeting "gotcha" scenarios.
On the other hand, if we did know about it ... we could have some fun staging scenes for the unsuspecting spies, couldn't we? All those things we swear our kids can do that the school never sees, right there for the peeping at. Carefully worked out "casual" conversations, conducted in hearing range of the computer, conveying information we can't get anybody to listen too unless they're eavesdropping.
And then, I can't help but think, if the computers can spy on us, could they not somehow be rigged to spy on the school? Could we not recruit some hack-helpful teen to tap us into the webcam's view of the classroom? Finally, the fly-on-the-wall view we've been longing for! Nice to be able to play "gotcha" back.
What do you think about this school's experiment in school-home relations? And what use would you like to put a school-wired webcam to? Share in the comments.
Photo by Cocoon/Getty Images
It’s a slippery slope. You’re right – now that the school has shoved us to the brink and nudged its way over the edge, people are aware of the web cams, people are aware that they can be used to spy upon others, people will be spying upon others, people will be *positive* that others are spying on them, and people will find ways to use all that knowledge against others. I fully expect a new rash of phishing to come out with the subject line, “we saw u thru ur skool webcam”…
I feel that the right thing to do is to show kids where their web cams are located, and provide them with plasticine or something to block it. Show them how it works, let them comprehend how much those invisible little things pick up, help them understand that the technology can be used to listen in or even tell when someone is home or not for nefarious purposes. Just like we teach them not to use their real names and addresses online, take the extra step to block the web cam and go into sound options to disable the microphone until it’s needed.
Spying would be helpful in many cases – and we know it’s wrong. If it’s needed, we should find the right people to be doing the spying legally, instead of learning things that we need to reveal except that knowledge is now inadmissible because of the methods used to obtain it.
Sometimes there’s no winning for losing, but let’s not lose on purpose.