Big Brother wants to watch you in the privacy of your own home and he is doing this through the Internet.
Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students’ homes.
It sounds Orwellian and no one in Congress objects to it. The paragraph is actually about clamping down on cheating. It says that an institution that offers an online program must prove that an enrolled student is the same person who does the work.
The bill is spurring some colleges to try technologies that authenticate online test takers by reading their fingerprints, watching them via Web cameras, or recording their keystrokes. Some colleges claim there are advantages for students: The devices allow them to take tests anytime, anywhere. Many students must now travel to distant locations so a proctor can watch them take exams on paper. [1]
The federal prosecutor investigating the case of a Pennsylvania school district that spied on its students via remote-controlled laptop cameras says the school district won’t face criminal charges in the case.
U.S. Attorney Zane David Memenger said in a statement that there is no evidence the Lower Merion School District, in suburban Philadelphia, had any criminal intent when it remotely activated cameras on laptops issued to students.
“For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with criminal intent,” Memeger said, as at Information Week. “We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent.”
The issue came to light in February, when the parents of Harriton High School student Blake Robbins filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the school district invaded Robbins’ privacy by filming him in his home through his school-issued laptop. It emerged later that the school district photographed Robbins 400 times in a two-week period, in various states of undress and even during his sleep.
Investigators found that the remote-controlled cameras took some 56,000 pictures of Lower Merion School District students over a two-year period, with the cameras sometimes left on for weeks at a time. [2]
Endnotes
[1] Spielman, Fran. “New 911 chief wants private-sector cameras to link in.” 4.07.2010. Chicago Sun Times cited by RestoretheRepublic.com.
[2] Foster, Andrea L. “New Systems Keep a Close Eye on Online Students at Home,” 7.25.2008, Volume 54, Issue 46, Page A1.