Indie/Hack Real life, tech, and obscure music.

Riverfield kids, heads up! Your computers might be used against you.

So, have you heard the news about the high school in Pennsylvania that bought their students MacBooks, completely free of charge? Sounds awesome! Who wouldn’t want a free MacBook? In this case, I don’t know a single person who would want these laptops.

The laptops were distributed to students at Harrington High, but little did they know that the school administrators were abusing their power and spying on their students through their webcams. Not just during school hours, either. One student was punished because school officials took a snapshot of the student doing something “inappropriate” in his own home. Not only is this a violation of privacy, but are public schools even allowed to take disciplinary action against their students for things off of school property? Nevermind all the personal business a teenager could be doing while the webcam was enabled.

And then it takes a strange and rather corrupt turn. Mike Perbix is a network tech for LMSD, who also did a promotional video for the software, called LANRev. (The video can be found here) In it, Mike talks about its glorious usage for spying”

“you’re controlling someone’s machine, you don’t want them to know what you’re doing”

Creepy! And that’s not all. LANRev has something called “Theft Mode”, in which itsends the location and webcam screenshots directly to the school. So, let’s say we have a student, who might be doing something Harrington High frowns upon. Not only do they know exactly what he or she is doing, they can go directly to where they are and “deal with the problem”.

In addition, there are methods in place to PREVENT the students from accessing the program to monitor their own webcams, and, presumably, to disable the software. Mike also wrote on how to disable the internal use of the webcam, meaning students could not use the built-in iSight, but “outside sources” could. A blogger put this into context: “What’s the purpose of shutting down a camera for the user of the laptop but still making it available to network administrators? Ask yourself: if you wanted to convince someone that a webcam blinking was a glitch, would disabling the cameras help make your case?”

If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking the same thing I was when I first found this out: “Why can’t you just opt out of using the laptop? This is only a problem if you’re gullible enough to use it.” It’s not that simple, apparently. Other students have enlightened the angry internet mob to this disaster:

• Students were told that the blinking webcam light, which comes on when in use, was “only a glitch”. Read: there is no problem here, I think you’re just confused, the webcam *never* comes on by itself.
• The Macbook was REQUIRED for class.
• Computers OTHER than the bugged Macbook were prohibited and would be confiscated.
• There was no way to disable the camera.
• If you decided to be ballsy and hack into LANRev, you face the penalty ofexpulsion.

Here’s an anecdote from a student:

“[I] had brought in my own personal computer to work on a project for school one day. I was doing a presentation involving programs not available on the regular computers, only in specific labs. I happened to have a copy of my own. My personal property was confiscated from me in a study hall when I was working on a school assignment because it was against the schools ‘code of conduct’.”

Code of conduct? Yes, because if you dare go against the iron will of The School, you must face The Consequences. This is not the first time this has happened. Kutztown University (isn’t higher ed supposed to be above this? Apologies for the pun), presumably running a simulation on what it would be like in Mainland China, apparently filed felony charges against students trying access the administrative program which prevents students from doing things from instant messaging to accessing “inappropriate” websites. Inappropriate websites, like Google, Free Tibet and Amnesty International?

What’s depressing is that many students and even their parents think this is acceptable, that this is something you just have to deal with to be safe. You’re being spied on, in your own home, without your consent. You’re using a bugged laptop that you’re forced to own, without any choice whatsoever. How is this acceptable?

We as Americans and as global citizens are having our privacy stripped away in the name of “security” or even “convenience”. And we’re being told to accept it by those in power, and even by our friends, because there is nothing we can do about it. We have to submit ourselves and our information to Big Brother, because if we don’t, we’ll be punished severely. Where is the outrage here? Where are the protests, the riots? What are we doing about this?

If we don’t speak up, I swear on my life that in the next few decades we will have RFID chips in our bodies and cameras in our homes.

As for the lawsuit, subpoenas are out and the FBI is involved. Good things, right? Nope:

“The greatest threat to this investigation now is the possibility that the highly trained technical staff at LMSD could issue a LANRev script to wipe digital forensic evidence off all the laptops.”

Ask questions. Demand answers. Know your rights. Never for a second believe your privacy is safe. And for the love of Jobs, BUY YOUR OWN COMPUTER!

Sources (must reads):
Stryde Hax, which features in-depth research on the program.
Gizmodo