# Hol-eeee Crap!! School Suspends Student...After Spying on Him **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 18, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510 "2010-02-18T19:42:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/161 "2010-02-20T23:31:40Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > I don’t think that’s necessarily true, especially in a situation where formal reprimands are a matter of record. Just telling something that what they did was wrong might be a correction, but a condemnation? A rebuke? Suppose I coach a youth basketball team and I tell a player that he is taking off on the wrong foot when he lays it in. Is that a reprimand? Is it a rebuke? Suppose I say “No biggie, you’ll get it next time,” have I reprimanded him? Really? Perhaps you should re-read the definition of “reprimand” again; the link is in my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/162 "2010-02-20T23:37:06Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > He was busted for eating candy? No one even bothered to do anything except to go right to the confrontations and accusations? > > I’d be calling for that idiot’s head. My lawyer would be too. > Invasion of privacy, false accusations, general sloppiness, and monumental stupidity. It keeps getting better and better. I’d be suing the shit out of somebody myself. Really dumb question .. Did the student in question actually REPORT his laptop as stolen/missing? Nowhere do I see the school claiming that they were just looking for the laptop … and obviously the kid wasn’t missing it, he knew right where it was… ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/163 "2010-02-20T23:45:12Z")
About the candy being mistaken for illegal pills: how does an illegal pill look different from a legal one? Even if they were pills they could be legitimately prescribed or even just over-the-counter vitamins or something. It’s a big leap to say that somebody who takes a pill must be breaking the law. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/164 "2010-02-21T00:06:01Z")
> [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > The [philly.com](http://philly.com) article linked above says that the incident was placed in the student’s record. > > Why would the lawyers withhold the detail about the Mike and Ike candy, and then allow the family to release the information in a press conference after the story had made the news? (I assume the information was released with the attorneys’ consent). It strikes me as grandstanding. I’m not a lawyer, but I think the complaint would be about the district spying, not what the kid was doing or not doing. It wouldn’t matter if they randomly spied and found him actually doing something wrong, and without a warrant it wouldn’t matter even if they suspected him of doing something wrong. BTW, does anyone know if this idiot Asst. Principal has been suspended? In our district administrators don’t have the protection against firing and suspension that teachers do. You’d think at this point she would be totally ineffective. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/165 "2010-02-21T00:06:22Z")
Those Mike and Ike things look suspiciously like the jelly beans that Reagan kept on his Whitehouse desk. Acutally, if they were drugs, that would explain a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/166 "2010-02-21T00:35:33Z")
Here’s a link to an interview with the family. They say that they did not report the kid’s computer stolen. I had been wondering whether the kid might have taken the picture himself using the webcam, and then the school administration got the picture somehow. But the interview suggests that the picture was taken via the remote access by the school. [http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7288199](http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7288199) > [@](#): > > They say it began with the principal of Harriton High calling them up and accusing Blake of selling drugs at home, saying they saw it all through the webcam on the school issued computer. > > “She said that she had pictures of Blake that were taken on his computer of him holding up little, what she thought, were pills, but what turned out to be Mike & Ike candies,” Holly said. > > “I mean at first, I couldn’t say anything because she was accusing me of selling drugs , I couldn’t fight back, but I thought this was terrible, how could they do this,” Blake said. > … > > Lower Merion officials concede they remotely activated webcams 42 times to find missing student computers in the past 14 months, but did not spy on students as the Robins’ are claiming in their lawsuit. > > But the Robbins point out, they never reported Blake’s computer stolen. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/167 "2010-02-21T01:09:16Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > About the candy being mistaken for illegal pills: how does an illegal pill look different from a legal one?.. Illegal pills are almost always green, whereas legal pills are almost always red. The illegal and legal drug industries have a gentleman’s agreement that they will not encroach on each other’s turf. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/168 "2010-02-21T01:45:26Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:159, topic:529510”] Nor would I, and the fact that we have to say it shows something horribly and terribly wrong with the legal system in the U.S. You just know the lawsuits against the school district looking for piles of cash in punitive damages are going to start stacking up. The people filing the lawsuits will be fully aware of the fact that the money isn’t coming from anyone who did anything wrong. It’s coming from the school district. Where does the school district get its money? The taxpayers. [/QUOTE] It’s not a problem with the legal system. It’s the natural consequence of public education. Where else would the money come from? The personal pockets of the officials? They wouldn’t have that much, and who’d take the job if they knew they could lose everything in a heartbeat? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/169 "2010-02-21T01:48:59Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I was once detained by two San Diego police officers for eating a Kit Kat bar. The sad part is, they would have let you go if you hadn’t gotten in ones face and said, “Two for me. None For You…!”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/170 "2010-02-21T03:00:32Z")
He got chocolate in their peanut butter. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/171 "2010-02-21T03:04:30Z")
That’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, not Kit Kat. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/172 "2010-02-21T04:01:49Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > It’s not a problem with the legal system. It’s the natural consequence of public education. Where else would the money come from? The personal pockets of the officials? They wouldn’t have that much, and who’d take the job if they knew they could lose everything in a heartbeat? Of course it’s a problem with the legal system. Otherwise, the people actually responsible for breaking the law would be liable criminally and civilly, and innocent bystanders wouldn’t get screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/173 "2010-02-21T04:38:09Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Duckster {no, by Musicat} > > > > One thing puzzles me. I have seen reports that from 1800 to 2400 laptops were given out to students – not sure what age group – since last fall. How come none of those students, which I would expect included a whole lot of nerds, detected the spy software? > > Some did figure out there was something crummy going on, see [post 94](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12136754&postcount=94). (Quote was misattributed) I saw that, but noticing a light going on at strange times isn’t quite what I meant. Surely some kids dug into the startup software and maybe deeper to look for stuff they could find and mess with whether they thought something suspicious was going on or not. I know I would have. After all, they were supplied by The Man, and we all know The Man cannot be trusted. Right, Bueller? This reminds me of a case a few years ago at our local high school (I wasn’t involved in any way 🙂 ). Some girls noticed a red light in a vent on a utility door in the locker room, and it turned out one of the IT guys, a former student, was hiding there with a camcorder, probably on more than one occasion. He was severly dealt with (arrested, fired) and now we have more locks on more outside school doors (not that that would have prevented him from hiding in the closet, but it makes it look like the school is doing something positive). ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/174 "2010-02-21T04:40:48Z")
There you go, you would think an IT guy would know enough to put some tape over the red light, but he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/175 "2010-02-21T06:49:47Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I was once detained by two San Diego police officers for eating a Kit Kat bar. Airport security found me with $100,000 in my pocket and I couldn’t prove that it really belonged to me. They were giving me a really hard time about it. So I just gave it to them to get them off my back and got another $100,000 at the newsstand. Had to pay 3 bucks for it, too. What a rip-off. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/176 "2010-02-21T06:51:47Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > I was once detained by two San Diego police officers for eating a Kit Kat bar. Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/177 "2010-02-21T06:56:10Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Or that we can’t always grasp what we read. > > That is a reprimand. I’ve given you no cause to be rude to me. Really, it’s possible to have disagreements, even on the internet, while still being nice to one another. And I do disagree. I don’t think “Stop that” is a reprimand. Look at what the word is being used to mean; the press coverage is trying to give the impression that the student was punished, or disciplined, or suffered negative consequences from the school in some way, when there’s no evidence of this. > [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > The [philly.com](http://philly.com) article linked above says that the incident was placed in the student’s record. Maybe the article has been changed since you saw it, but I don’t see anything there about his permanent record. > [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > Here’s a link to an interview with the family. They say that they did not report the kid’s computer stolen. > > I had been wondering whether the kid might have taken the picture himself using the webcam, and then the school administration got the picture somehow. But the interview suggests that the picture was taken via the remote access by the school. > > [http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7288199](http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7288199) Note that the mother only says that the picture was “on the computer.” The reporter interprets that to mean that the picture was taken by remote access, but that’s not necessarily the case. * * * In any event, there are two issues floating around now. 1) Did someone from the school photograph this kid or any other kid? If so, that’s presumably got to be a violation of any number of laws. 2) Even if no one photographed any kids and the school is correct that remote access to the webcam was only used in response to reports of theft, is it still a violation of law and or bad judgment to have that anti-theft software capability in place? The school clearly has some records of server activity, to be able to come up with the 42 number. Presumably the records for that night will show whether or not they did. The broader legal issue is beyond my knowledge. Ideally, the school would have gotten a legal opinion before distributing the laptops with that capability, but often there just doesn’t seem to be a lawyer around when you need one. I’d be curious to know, too, whether any of the 42 anti-theft uses were actually useful in retrieving the computer. > [@Musicat](#): > > …Surely some kids dug into the startup software and maybe deeper to look for stuff they could find and mess with whether they thought something suspicious was going on or not. I know I would have. After all, they were supplied by The Man, and we all know The Man cannot be trusted. Right, Bueller? It’s possible that the laptops were set up with the student’s access to the system and startup files disabled. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/178 "2010-02-21T07:01:44Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s possible that the laptops were set up with the student’s access to the system and startup files disabled. That would be about the first thing I did if I were an IT person for a school district that gave out laptops like this. The last thing you want is for the kids to be fiddling with the settings. You’d have to be resetting laptops every day if you didn’t head that off at the pass. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/179 "2010-02-21T07:06:20Z")
The FBI is getting involved… [CNN link](http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/20/laptop.suit/index.html?hpt=T2) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510/180 "2010-02-21T07:08:25Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > (Quote was misattributed) I’ve fixed this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hol-eeee-crap-school-suspends-student-after-spying-on-him/529510.md?page=10)