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Feds Won't File Charges In School Laptop-Spy Case
jamie writes "Federal prosecutors have decided not to file charges against a Philadelphia school district or its employees over the use of software to remotely monitor students. From the article: 'US Attorney Zane David Memeger says investigators have found no evidence of criminal intent by Lower Merion School District employees who activated tracking software that took thousands of webcam and screenshot images on school-provided laptops.'"
Of course the Fed won't prosecute them. After all, it'd just be hypocritical if they went after a bunch of perverted quasi-Orwellian miscreants for doing, on a much smaller scale, the same kind of espionage the Fed directs against its own citizens on a daily basis.
good lesson to teach the next generation: we will spy on you - sit down and shut the fuck up.
Just because the feds won't file charges doesn't mean the students themselves or the local DA or state AG can't file civil or criminal charges.
This really sets a horrendous precedent, as it gives school officials the ability to use such invasive and insane actions to spy on kids.
Amazing that the government's "think of the children" response to everything else unrelated isn't being applied to one of the few cases where it actually should be.
StarTrekPhase2 - The Five Year Mission Continues!
Well, they couldn't spin it as a Pedo Teacher thing, so they decided it wasn't worth it. You know, "think of the children..."
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger says investigators have found no evidence of criminal intent...
So, when the speed limit changes from a 55 to a 35 MPH zone in 100 feet and I didn't see the sign, does that mean I don't get a ticket because I didn't intend to commit a crime?
since when was there a need to prove "criminal intent" before prosecuting someone?
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking the law. I had a federal judge tell me that once. Guess it's just unlucky for me I don't work for the government.
Terry Childs didn't have any criminal intent either, and he caused a lot less harm. Look where that got him... I no longer have any faith in the "justice" system.
Real programmers use "copy con program.exe"
don't you feel that you are living in an increasingly a police state, where the cops' and generally the government actions are always above the law and justified and the citizens actions are more and more criminalized?
You can't handle the truth.
The students did detect this. They saw the light blinking on and off, and reported it. These claims were dismissed as something wrong with the light. Of course, the fact that the claims were dismissed by the very group of people who could be taking the pictures should have made it seem a bit suspicious...
Recording children in their rooms without anyone's consent:
Not wiretapping
Recording the police on the job in a traffic stop at a public location:
Wiretapping
Source: http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=102616&catid=187
They took 56,000 pictures of minors in their bedrooms and watched them for fun out of incompetence or stupidity??!!?!
If it had been an ordinary IT clerk, instead of a school system's policy, they would have faced serious prosecution, no ifs, ands, or buts. (except the kind on film..)
That's a really good way of looking at it. If one person had done this alone (like one of the school district's IT staff for instance) without any approval and it was discovered, he would have been hung out to dry. Even if he legitimately had no criminal intent. Even if he didn't necessarily capture any images which might be illegal. He would at the very least have lost his job, would likely be in prison, and would probably have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Talk about a double standard.
The students did detect this. They saw the light blinking on and off, and reported it. These claims were dismissed as something wrong with the light. Of course, the fact that the claims were dismissed by the very group of people who could be taking the pictures should have made it seem a bit suspicious...
Not to mention the fact that would have been a heck of a lot of laptops with the exact same "malfunction."
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
The families in the school district.
If the families sue the district then there is less money to go into the class room. Taxes must be raised to properly educate the children. If the families sue individuals the individuals will just be reimbursed by the district or the district's insurance company. Once again class-room money is drained away and taxes must be raised to replace it.
Unless individuals can be sued and barred from getting any reimbursement.
What one generation accepts... ...The NEXT generation embraces.
Because all of us here on the internet (the younger generations) are accepting of the majority of now middle-aged Americans that support monitoring of the internet, support outlawing gay marriage, support a zero-tolerance war on drugs, etc...
And on that note, just as how all the hippies of the 1970's were totally acceptant of the rules imposed on them by the post-WWII generation and the big federal government...
Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse
Unless you work in law enforcement
http://reason.com/archives/2010/08/02/ignorance-of-the-law-is-no-exc
"Police Officers Don't Check Their Civil Rights at the Station House Door"
Three law enforcement officials defend the arrest of citizens who record on-duty cops.
http://reason.com/archives/2010/08/09/police-officers-dont-check-the
The US has basically degenerated into the society from 1984. The inner party consists of the politicians, judges and other court officials, and the rich. The outer party is the bureaucrats and police who make life easy for the inner party members. The only way a party member can be subject to "justice" is if they piss off a higher up member of the party.
The proles are all the rest of us who put up with this crap. Our plates aren't on the secret list so we get speed and red light camera tickets. God himself can't save us if we don't pay our taxes, they don't have to worry. If we have 2 beers then drive home we are facing mandatory license revocation for a year and thousands in fines, if they down a bottle of whisky and drive all over the road and crash into a ditch they get a free ride home from their buddies.
It feels like the country has gotten both too big in that an individual can't possibly make any difference, and too small in that there is no place to go where we aren't under their thumbs at the same time.
Wait the federal government won't prosecute a bunch of union, jack boot gestapo perverts from the Teacher's Union? No really? In Philly? Why piss off your largest voting block? Makes perfect sense. I don't know about Philly but the first question to ask is "Is this DA elected and did he have the teacher's union endorsement?"
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
That always has struck me as unfair, and even downright bizarre. I'm all for deterring crime and punishing criminals. But punishing someone for a crime they didn't commit themselves (or, for that matter, that they might not even be AWARE was committed) is just outlandish. IMHO, only the trigger person(s) should be charged with actual murder. In a robbery type situation, his fellow robbers could be charged with "accessory to murder," "armed robbery," etc. But the idea of charging someone with murder who might have never laid a finger on anyone in his life, who walked into a bank thinking his partner was just going to rob it, or who might have been sitting in the getaway car outside unaware that anyone had even been killed...that's just bizarre.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.