1,000s of Photos Taken of Students: Webcam Suit

Staffers “loved” viewing the “soap opera” of students’ lives, lawsuit quotes

The suburban Philadelphia family claiming Lower Merion school employees spied on students through school-supplied laptops says the tracking software captured thousands of images of students.

A new motion filed in the case of Blake J. Robbins vs. Lower Merion School District states that the district captured thousands of images of students in their homes, one of which is a photo of Blake Robbins sleeping in his bed.

District staff members who had access to the images enjoyed being voyeurs into the students homes and lives, calling it a “soap opera,” the motion, which was filed Thursday, also states.

The new motion came about after the district turned over records to the Robbins family and their lawyer. In an e-mail conversation included in the records one staffer tells program administrator Carol Cafiero that access to the Webcam images was like watching “a little LMSD soap opera,” reports the Inquirer.

"I know, I love it," Cafiero replied, states the suit.

Robbins filed a federal lawsuit in February claiming the district spied on students in their homes.

District officials have acknowledged secretly activating webcams to locate 42 missing laptops. They say Robbins' webcam was activated because he wasn't authorized to take the laptop home.

A school attorney says there's no indication that images were misused.
 

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