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A report issued yesterday by attorneys hired by the Lower Merion School District found that the collection of images stemmed not from an effort to spy on students but from "the district's failure to implement policies, procedures and recordkeeping requirements and the overzealous and questionable use of technology by IS personnel without any apparent regard for privacy considerations or sufficient consultation with administrators."

The report also criticized leaders and several members of the IS department as "not forthcoming with the Board, administrators and students about what TheftTrack could do and how they used it," citing incidents demonstrating "an unwillingness ... to let anyone outside of the IS Department know about TheftTrack's capabilities."

The report said the tracking system was intended to help recover stolen computers and the district used it successfully for that purpose. But it said the district also used the system for missing computers and for unknown purposes and left it activated for long periods in cases "in which there was no longer any possible legitimate reason" for capturing images.

The report faults administrators who had information about the program with not having appreciated the privacy concerns raised.

The most interesting part of the report confirms the allegation by student Blake Robbins and his family about alleged privacy violations over webcam images taken at home without their knowledge.

The report says Robbins turned in his laptop with a broken screen and was issued a loaner on Oct. 20, but school officials quickly moved to retrieve it due to outstanding insurance fees. So the tracking program was activated from Oct. 20 to Nov. 4 and captured 210 webcam photographs and 218 screen shots, the report said.

Although a technician confirmed on the first day of tracking that the laptop was "now currently online at home," another official in the same department instructed him to keep the tracking on and later told investigators he thought he needed authorization to terminate it, the report said.

On Oct. 30, the report said, a technician saw a computer screen shot that "included an online chat that concerned him." After consulting with a superior, he allowed school officials to look at the images.

Although the school principal said none of the images should be discussed with Robbins or his parents because they involved off-campus activities, Vice Principal Lindy Matsko decided about a week later it was "appropriate to discuss certain seemingly troubling images" with them, the report said.

In the civil lawsuit, Robbins said Matsko approached him and warned that school officials, based on webcam photos, suspected him of selling drugs. Robbins, 15, denies the drug allegation and said Matsko mistook Mike & Ike candies for illicit pills.

Robbins family attorney Mark Haltzman told reporters at the meeting that he and his clients were "thankful that we've been vindicated ... about all the misuse going on," but he added he was concerned that the full story had not yet been revealed.

The report notes Robbins "was not disciplined as a result of any images captured from his laptop."

Finally the truth about Lower Merion's use of remote monitoring software on student laptops: On Monday, the District's lawyer admitted that the school system captured 56,000 images of students, although thankfully "none of the images appeared to be salacious or inappropriate."

Back in February, the District's website declared that they only activated the software to locate lost, stolen or missing laptops: "The district has not used the tracking feature or webcam for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever," the Web site said.

Conclusion: there must be an awfully lot of missing laptops in the richest school district in Pennsylvania and one of the richest school districts in the country. Actually, maybe that's how everyone is getting so rich. They're fencing school laptops! This gives the story a whole new angle.

Let's see, there are 1500 students at Lower Marion High School, divided by 56,000 "investigatory images," means that each student stole about 37 computers. With MacBook Pros running about $1100 each, I'd say that each student in the LMSD received over $40,000 by fencing school computers. Parents with multiple students in high school could be making well into six figures with this scheme, easily offsetting school taxes, payments on luxury autos and mortgages.

And remember those parents who signed a petition demanding that all lawsuits against the school district be dropped? They definitely know they've got a good thing going. Why mess it up with a lawsuit which might lead to this scam leaking out?

Let the school peek at whatever they want to. As long as we can keep moving these "lost, stolen or missing" laptops on eBay, the District will be fully justified in capturing tens of thousands of images, the parents will get rich, and all the students at LMSD will keep their fancy cars, homes and vacations.

It's a win-win situation for everyone! Why give it away for free by sexting? Make the District work to "recover their lost, stolen or missing" laptops.

(These are high rez images too! Check out this image of Harriton High student Blake Robbins which his parents say was made surreptitiously by a school-issued laptop. No chance that the District will miss one mole on the crooks' nose with pix like these!)

Any kid that has a problem with this set up will get sent to Luzerne County where corrupt judges got cash bribes for sending juvenile delinquents to a private detention facility. From Masha Allen's adoption by a pedophile, to Luzerne County's cash for kids, to LMSD's pedo laptop recovery program - there's just something about Pennsylvania folks. My advice, keep your webcam's covered and your doors locked.

For more on this story, check out the Philadelphia Inquirer

According to Law Professor Marci Hamilton:

Jewish and Catholic clergy are squaring off over legislation in New York State to reform statute of limitation laws for childhood sexual abuse. In this case, let's root for the rabbis - because if they win, the real winners will be victims who have been foreclosed from seeking justice against their perpetrators for far too many years.

The bill in question is the Child Victims Act. Scheduled to shortly go before the New York state Legislature, it would extend the statutes of limitations by five years for child sex abuse prosecution and civil claims. Further, it would also open a one-year "window" to allow victims whose time for going to court had previously expired because of the limitations to re-enter the justice system and file claims during this set period.

California and Delaware recently enacted legislation that has revealed almost 400 new child predators.

When the victims name the adults who made the abuse happen, and courts order the release of evidence and documents that have shielded the ugly truth from the people, New Yorkers can finally protect children from the dangerous and the callous.

All concientious New York citizens should write a letter to their State Representative and State Senator supporting the Child Victims Act: Assembly Bill A.2596 / Senate Bill S.2568 without amendment.

Go to www.sol-reform.com for additional details.

No surprise here: legislation requiring any juvenile who appears in court to be represented by a lawyer would be unconstitutional according to PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille.

This is PA's official judicial response to the Luzerne County PA scandal in which former Common Pleas judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan pleaded guilty in February to taking $2.6 million in bribes to put juveniles in private detention centers. Hundreds of youngsters were sent to facilities without the benefit of legal counsel.

State Senator Lisa Baker, a Republican who represents part of Luzerne County, perhaps said it best (in comments which could apply to many governmental institutions in her state and elsewhere):

"Everyone fervently hopes the Luzerne County mess is an appalling anomaly, Yet, too many eyes were averted, too many voices were held silent, too many people were intimidated, too many troubling statistics were discounted, too many warning signs were ignored for people to accept the argument this cannot happen again. What we announce today is a start, to remedy injustice and to reform a system that lacks sufficient openness or oversight to prevent corruption."

Castille's Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit in January filed by the Juvenile Law Center which requested relief for juveniles who appeared in a Luzerne County courtroom without lawyers. So much for official oversight.

Asked if the Supreme Court should have recognized the problem earlier, Castille said no. "We're not an investigative body."

Castille then ironically pledged "to the citizens of Pennsylvania that the Supreme Court will do all in its power to ensure that justice is done fairly and honestly in Luzerne County and in every courtroom in this Commonwealth every day."

How he plans on "ensuring justice" without investigatory powers or court appointed counsel is anyone's guess.

Corrupt PA juvenile judge claims "judicial privilege" shields him from lawsuits for illegal juvenile prison terms Link

Case Update: How to Strip Search a Middle School Student heads to the Supreme Court Link