It is important to understand the risks of the gadgets you are bringing into your home — and bedroom.
A lawsuit alleging that officials from a high school in an affluent area in Pennsylvania watched a 15-year-old at home on a school-issued laptop’s webcam has raised awareness of a relatively unknown risk. Many laptops sold today have webcams built into the monitor creating for the potential of increased voyeurism.
According to an article on philly.com:
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, the family said the school’s assistant principal had confronted their son, told him he had “engaged in improper behavior in [his] home, and cited as evidence a photograph from the webcam embedded in [his] personal laptop issued by the school district.”
The Lower Merion School District, the suit alleged, was able to turn on the webcams and illegally invade students’ privacy.
According to the publication:
A statement on the district Web site said the lawsuit’s allegations “are counter to everything that we stand for as a school and a community.”
Stephen Henderson, a law professor interviewed for the story, told philly.com that using such a camera for home surveillance “would violate wiretap laws, even if done to catch a thief.”
It is important for folks with webcams to understand how the popular device works. Some have lights that illuminate when activated, while some do not. Many have the potential to be activated remotely. To preserve one’s privacy, users with webcams could simple place a small Post-it note over the camera’s hole to avoid any unexpected or undesired exposure.
It is important to remember to always think of the worst-case scenarios with any piece of technology you bring into your home, because chances are someone else already is.
