Pennsylvania: “The Lower Merion School District will pay $610,000 to settle lawsuits over its tracking of student laptop computers, ending an eight-month saga that thrust the elite district into a global spotlight and stirred questions about technology and privacy in schools.” Specifically, $175,000 will go to two students who sued, and $425,000 to their lawyer, while lawyers and computer specialists hired by the school in its defense have billed more than $1 million. “And the attorney for at least one other student has notified the district that he was contemplating a lawsuit.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, Balko, Kennerly]
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Interestly, Haltzman (the plaintiffs’ lawyer) has actually sued the plantiffs before, presumably for unpaid legal fees. My theory is that he dropped the suit in exchange for them allowing him to sue the school. I don’t have any evidence for this, and the original Philadelphia Inquirer source on the fact that Halztman sued the Robbins is no longer online (it was here…I’m sure if you’re interested the Inquirer would send you a copy), but I remember it quite well because I actually went to that high school (though a year or two before the laptop program started), so I followed the story pretty closely.
The whole webcam spying was discovered in November 2009 and the complaint was filed in February 2010 so what the heck were the defense attorneys doing in the last 8 months (or even 11 months) that could get the legal bills over $1,000,000?? Sounds like some big time padding of bills going on in this case.
The Lord’s prayer has the supplication: “and lead us not into temptation”. Why would you give lap tops to students who will be tempted to steal them. Then you will have to pay off those who give in to the temptation.
“The Lord’s prayer has the supplication: “and lead us not into temptation”. Why would you give lap tops to students who will be tempted to steal them. Then you will have to pay off those who give in to the temptation.”
What story are you talking about. This one concerned the district remotely activating the web cameras on the computers, which has the effect of administrators peeping anytime/anyplace. Almost certainly the reason for the administrators wanting a million dollar defense was the probability that somewhere on their server would be a picture of a teen, perhaps innocently enough with random snapshots taken by the school in their bedrooms, in a state of undress. The game of chicken was what could be found on discovery that might be of interest to a prosecutor looking to make a splash.
The silly part of all this is I understand there are programs that can tell you where a computer is when it connects to a network without the risks involved with using the webcam. Personally, I think they should have specified computers without webcams, and I expect with the number they ordered, they could get them that way.
Since the legal fees in these cases typically far exceed the payout, the school district should have given an offer of judgment. This halts the accrual of legal fees and is akin to a “loser pays” system.
For gasman,
We used to have open showers in high school. What would be the big deal if somewhat was caught in the all together.
It is unfortunate that litigation is a temptation that is irresistible to too many. What if there was a bullying incident? Schools should not provide laptops to students.
William,
Are you seriously asking what would be the big deal if a school official turned on a webcam to film a teenager getting undressed in their bedroom, or am I misreading your post?
In the present case, there was a negative consequence for the student other than mere violation of privacy. He was observed eating some kind of candy, which to school officials looked like illegal drugs, as a result of which he was suspended. In other words, school officials were able to observe off-campus activity that was arguably none of their business. The added facts that the nitwits mistook candy for illegal drugs and failed to afford him any real due process contribute to the outrageousness of the school district’s behavior although they are not necessary consequences of the use of the webcam.