John P. Martin reports:
A federal judge Friday permanently barred the Lower Merion School District from using webcams or other intrusive technology to secretly monitor students through their school-issued laptops.
The five-page injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois also requires the suburban district to adopt transparent and expansive policies by September to govern its student laptop program.
It says Lower Merion can implement an alternative to webcam tracking to find missing or stolen computers, but only if the technology is “conspicuously disclosed” in a document signed by students and their parents.
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Update 1: Another news source reports that:
A federal court judge is ordering the Lower Merion School District and a student suing for alleged cyber-spying over district-issued laptops to try to settle non-monetary issues.
The order is not yet up on PACER, but I’ll try to upload a copy later when it’s available.
Update 2: Here’s the order, and it’s a beaut in terms of protecting student privacy and enforcing transparency on the district’s part.