is this legal (on the topic of laptop cams and schools)

[Church.exe]

recently i have heard of schools viewing the camera of school laptops given out
i have had school laptops that are taken home by the kids and we are forced to use them and we cannot use our laptops so is this legal (i know it wouldnt be if a person did it, but is it legal if the school does it on their laptops but viewing the students)

[76561198152167391]

I think it should be illegal. There were like teachers at my school who like spied on us using the PA and using a securtiy camera to see us. Some teachers put tape on the camera but meh

[Falro the Great]

Since the laptops are the school's property, I think the law would err on their side. I am not a lawyer however, and to get a proper answer you'd have to contact one.

[Washell]

Unsurprisingly, it's not legal to spy on kids in their own home, even if you're the organization providing the tools you're spying with.

[Church.exe]

k then ill be sure to moniter all data coming out of the laptops ip if im ever given one

[Church.exe]

Originally posted by //EVA-2 | ASUKA:

I think it should be illegal. There were like teachers at my school who like spied on us using the PA and using a securtiy camera to see us. Some teachers put tape on the camera but meh

well i think you need to sign something for that saying your ok with it or at least your parents would need to but even then they shouldnt always be doing it really only now and then or when they are suspicious

[Kaihekoa]

There's a legal agreement you or your parents entered when you received the privilege of using a computer owned by the school. You need to research the agreement to see if the school's access of data is authorized. Most likely they are allowed to do virtually anything with the device/data, as they own it. If you're insinuating schools everywhere would use the camera to spy on teenyboppers, you have watched too many movies.

[Church.exe]

i dont watch hardly any movies but i have heard of a school doing that and im pretty sure that they never put that down on the agreement

[Church.exe]

Originally posted by Kaihekoa:

There's a legal agreement you or your parents entered when you received the privilege of using a computer owned by the school. You need to research the agreement to see if the school's access of data is authorized. Most likely they are allowed to do virtually anything with the device/data, as they own it. If you're insinuating schools everywhere would use the camera to spy on teenyboppers, you have watched too many movies.

hold on though, my question was if they could do this on private property / your home
so yes they can do this on the school grounds but what about your home

[[LTT] LinusFTW]

To be honest if you are worried about privacy just go out and buy your own laptop, your school/college can't force you to use one of their laptops if you don't want it.

[rezo]

Get some tape and cover the camera if you're too bothered being caught wanking or some ♥♥♥♥ idk. Problem solved

[Church.exe]

yeah actually they say its mandatory to use theirs
and im just wondering because worst case i could sue them if it is illegal and also help others with this problem

[[LTT] LinusFTW]

Originally posted by zans:

yeah actually they say its mandatory to use theirs
and im just wondering because worst case i could sue them if it is illegal and also help others with this problem

Mate, how would they know that your using your own laptop? they don't and anyway what are they really going to do if they find out? nothing.

[Omega]

I highly doubt that your school will spy on you via your borrowed school laptop camera. Unless you live in North-Korea that is.

1 Google search later: It appears that this did happen back in 2010 in the US. The school that did this was sued to death.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

They can't spy on you while you're not connected to the schools network.
Just like any other system. You'd have to hack into your home ISP's IP / home network to do that.

[Long Ago [Linux]]

There was a school that got caught using the webcam on school issued laptops to watch what students were doing, and got into big trouble for it. They do not have to hack into your home network to do that. As long as your laptop is connected to a network with Internet, a program planted on the laptop could open a connection to allow them to stream it, just like being able to access your home PC from anywhere using Logmein or related Hamachi VPN, Teamviewer, GoToMyPC, etc. without having to do anything special with your home network.

It would be invasion of privacy, and possible other charges related to child porn to view what you were doing in your bedroom or wherever.