School hacks pc, spies on students via webcam

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I deliver this blog with much disgust. A high school administration actually purchased spying software, hacked students’ computers, and took PHOTOGRAPHS of them at home! Folks, this is not a slippery slope – this is pure cliff diving!

Family: Pa. school snared 1,000s of webcam images

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer Maryclaire Dale, Associated Press Writer – Fri Apr 16, 5:22 pm ET

PHILADELPHIA – A suburban Philadelphia school district snapped secret webcam pictures of a high school student when he was partially undressed or sleeping in his bed, and captured instant messages he exchanged with friends, the student charged in court papers this week.

(victim, pictured here with sister)

– The LANrev software program took screen shots and webcam photos every 15 seconds when activated. The district thereby captured over 400 screen shots and webcam images of Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins –

Full Story here… http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_hi_te/us_laptops_spying_on_students

Vidoe Here…. http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/school-allegedly-spied-via-web-cams-19196035

Unbelievable. It goes on and on….

Mark Haltzman, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Robbins and his family, said evidence now shows the district used the tracking software for non-authorized reasons — for instance, when students failed to pay the required insurance or return the laptops at year’s end.

At least once, a name mix-up led the district to activate the wrong student’s laptop, he charged.

“Thousands [emphasis is mine] of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes, many of which never reported their laptops lost or missing,” Haltzman wrote in a motion filed Thursday.

In case you are wondering ‘Who was the person in charge of this voyeuristic adventure?’

“[….] technology coordinator Carol Cafiero refused to answer his questions at a recent deposition, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. She and technician Michael Perbix were the only employees authorized to activate the webcams. Perbix did not fight the deposition.

You’re kidding me?! She spies on students – but wants to exercise HER 5th Amendment Rights? Psssh!!!

Haltzman called Cafiero a possible “voyeur” and wants access to her personal computer to see if she downloaded any student images. To support the charge,

he cited her response to an e-mail from a colleague who said viewing the webcam pictures was like watching “a little LMSD soap opera.”

“I know, I love it!” Cafiero allegedly replied.

Well Ms Cafiero, I’m sure you won’t mind telling a District Judge how much you ‘love’ spying on kids when they sue the pants off of you in civil court!

I already have beef with our federalized public school system – but this? This is absolutely disgusting.

-Jay

Detroit – From Factories to Farms

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What do you do when a Century of industrial advancement and development goes awry in your city? Turn back the clock 100 years and tear down neighborhoods – turning them back into farms and fields.

Sound crazy? Detroit is doing just that!

The Motor City wants to turn blighted neighborhoods into fields and farms

Wednesday,  March 17, 2010 2:55 AM

By David Runk

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Carlos Osorio | Associated press

A burned-out house is demolished in Detroit. The city is considering a plan to tear down abandoned and decrepit neighborhoods in roughly a quarter of Detroit’s 139 square miles. The city would like to pay to relocate residents, or force them to move using eminent domain.

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DETROIT — Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Read the rest here….

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2010/03/17/rural-detroit.html?sid=101

Sacremento Tent City: One Year Later

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It was reported worldwide that here in America, home of the brave and land of the free, that thousands of homeless, houseless, and displaced citizens in Sac, CA lived in TENTS; so much so that they created their own Tent City – a community of sorts to maintain and support one another…

Sacremento’s Mayor and local law enforcement felt that this was a ‘safety threat’, and ordered it shut down.

Year After Tent City, Sac Homeless Still Struggle

A year after Sacramento’s “tent city” gained global attention and a firestorm of media coverage, the city’s homeless problem is still crippling for those down on their luck.

Mayor [and former NBA All-Star] Kevin Johnson promised to tackle the issue and challenged the media who swarmed to Sacramento:

“Come back six months from now, do a follow up story.”

…… Oh, was that a challenge, KJ? Ouch.

Meanwhile, six months later……

The land that was once home to the tent city is now empty and fenced off, but the homeless say the problem has only grown.

Read the rest here…..

http://cbs13.com/local/tent.city.sacramento.2.1546212.html

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I don’t profess to have the answer to this, but I’m not sure a solution is to shut down the one area that was apparently deemed livable by Sacremento’s homeless. Something about that action seems rather…..inhumane.

Kinda like fencing off animals from their natural migration routes so we can develop land. Except Sacremento’s problem is not animals. They are people just like you and me. And Mayor Johnson.

-Jay