For many students at high schools and colleges, a laptop is an efficient way to get work done. Most students rent the computers from the school to make it even cheaper. However, most students probably don't stop and ask themselves what is the real "cost" of renting a laptop. Well, for students at Lower Merion High School district, it costs them their privacy.

Students that decided to rent laptops from the school district were given computers with webcams that could be remotely activated, if a school administrator wanted to. It's unknown how long this has been going on though.

This was first discovered when a school punished a student, Blake Robbins, for "improper behavior in his home," with the Vice Principal even providing a photo as evidence. According to Boing Boing, a lawsuit has been filed against the school on behalf of the students with school issued laptops.

This is truly unacceptable and is certainly scary for parents and students. Schools are always telling students to not give away to much information to people you don't know, but it's weird when the school itself is spying on you inside your home.

You can read the entire lawsuit here (.PDF format).

Comment Question:

How do you feel about this?