Opinion: Big Brother Should Be Expelled From Pennsylvania School

You are right on, oman!!!! I wouldn't even buy a computer that anyone can spy on me via the internet, much less on students and their families. The past nine years have turned our country into a pile of **** where people who have no rights can say nothing and people who think they are the big shots think that what they know is what everyone must do.

Was Hitler re-incarnated in PA and hired by the school district?
Spying on people in their own homes? Farenheight 451 scenerio next? Throw the educators in jail for a week and let them think about the constitution and the bill of rites and then terminate them from the positions. What they pulled was outrageous!

I think its a bunch of bull, that kinda happened to me, we had a graduation party for my daughter and there was beer, well pictures were put up on myspace by my daughter, the school some how got onto a private myspace and printed the pictures called child services and the cops i was arrested, the charges aredropped but that just shows how sneaky the schools are. Nothing is private anymore.

Also, the taxpayers paid for the schools, the land on which they sit, and pay the salaries of these people. For whom do they think they work? The Board of Education doe not actually "own" anything - they are only the representatives of the taxpayers.

The 4th amendment is not a right to privacy. This is a matter of civil law and should be dealt with by the courts which is the way it's being handled.

oman, You as a taxpayer, need to learn to spell taxpayer, before you post.

This was his 3rd computer. He was on probation and not allowed to take the computers home anymore. He reported the prior computer stolen, and when the computer was booted up the security feature came on to see who was on the computer. The parents of this child are trying to take the emphysis off of the trouble maker and on to the district. As for who bought the computers, this is a very wealthy school district and area. I dont think the district did anything wrong, its their property, and a release was sent out that anything on the computer was subject to search. Dont use it for personal use if you dont want anyone to see it.

ok so your saying that your not but we are not the government.... think of it this way..... if your the government do you always see every elected official that YOU want in office.... do you control how your money is spent for example on these laptops, do you decide which roads are getting paved and which aren't? the answer for all if not most is no.... so the government has been moved from "we the people" to "you people are my lowers". the people can't impeach the president only the congress can if im correct. the 3 branches are our government. and in all 3 i don't recall seeing "the taxpayers" in them. NOW this is a complete and utter disregard for constitutional rights.... period for the fact that privacy is not earned or rewarded.... IT IS A GIVEN when your born. for example.... if i stick a camera in the president's laptop/briefcase/ ect. than would you consider that a disregard for the constitution? if no then what if i use it for oh idk say give info about the president to a third party? or use it for personal gain?

Whether it be a student, an instructor, or simply a person in their own abode, everyone has a right to their privacy and nobody gives a social institution to violate our right to privacy unless we, as an individual, has violated a law or statute which legally takes this right from us for whatever period of time.
Regardless of the rationale given in this case by the school administration one should question what penalty has been given in these terms. If a student supplied a teacher or an administrator said laptop; would the same penalty apply? If it's not even close I'm almost positive that both the students and parents of the students would rightly view the consequences as far too bias and unequal under the law, unworthy for an American court system.
When our judical system began treating children as adults on one hand and then saying they've not the full rights of an adult in other cases we've regressed to separate but unequal all over again.
It should be obvious to all that George Orwell, once again, is rolling over in his grave!

This infuriates me. I graduated from Harriton High School last year and this article is SO WRONG!!! The administration at the school are excellent and respectful and the kid in question is a troublemaking punk. Not only that, the feature is not for spying, it is for retrieving stolen laptops (which is has successfully done several times before). The kid in question took a loaner laptop home which he was not allowed to do. The school noticed that they was missing a computer and activated the feature, taking a picture of the kid who brought it home. The media is putting a black mark on a great school and removing a feature from the computer program that is extremely effective and necessary. The student in question needs to go _______ himself.

THAT WHOLE TOWNSHIP IS CROOKED IT'S RUN BUT BANDITS

The schools have always over stepped their bounds. The school systems time and time again extended their control past the school grounds and feel as if they are in control of any students life past that point. Its wrong. I've watched everything from suspensions and expulsions for mild student hazing, off campus, off school hours, To myself being expelled for a fight that happend outside my house, on a weekend. At what point does that type of system end. These kids are under their control Monday-Friday from 7am-3pm depending on the school district. After that they no longer have any say or do in what goes on off that property outside or behind closed walls. I think the people in charge of that district in PA need to be charged to the fullest extent of the law as a message to all these other school systems out there that play these same exact games

I think the proper way to go about it would have been to make the acknowlagement part of the sign and release form. I ackowlage that the laptop I am borrowing from the school does have the ability to monitor my internet activities, and that the webcam can be accessed by the school for monitoring reasons. As I am sure the student must sign a form stating they are responsible for loss or damage. It is inherantly wrong and unlawful to record/monitor someones image/voice without thier knowlage unless it is done in public and even then businesses post warnning signs letting you know you are under survalance to protect themselves from liability isssues. Seems like a good plan, but just not thought out thouroughly.

totally agree

Ms. Welsh is one of those "I have nothing to hide" idiots.

Or she'd just rather the school district do her job, and raise her kids!

Maybe too many parents have passed the burden of child-rearing on to the school system?