MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Gee, never been so glad you tend to sleep with your clothes on ... eh kid? | |
Image of Blake Robinson in slumber captured by Pennsylvania's Lower Marion School District using his school-issued laptop. |
Why hadn't the family gone to law-enforcement authorities? "Their thinking was, back in November, to just let it go," said Haltzman, who has described the photo snapped by the school laptop camera as merely showing Blake Robbins with his favorite candy, Mike & Ike. "Blake protected himself by putting tape over the spot on the Web cam."
Then, he said, the family learned that the episode "was in his file. . . . That's the part that got them outraged."
The incident hit the news in earnest on February 19, 2010. By the 23rd, the family's lawyer, Mark Haltzman, first complained over the district's refusal to reveal the extent of the issue. "It's all in their possession," he told reporters, "and they don't want to let me see it." In the end, it took months and a few trips to court for Haltzman to gain access.
Haltzman also secured
a ban on school officials from making any statements related to the
case without first notifying the plaintiff with 6 hours notice. The ban
request was explained that "he wanted to make sure the district didn't
spread falsehoods about his
client". Which was likely a smart move. Haltzman had warned the family
that filing a suit against the government meant every bit of dirt would
be dug on the family, and he turned out to
be right.
Not all parents were happy with the idea of suing the school. On the one hand, you can't necessarily blame them for not wanting to see the school district take a financial hit. On the other, the only reason the school district acknowledged the problem at all or stopped the practice is specifically because of the lawsuit being filed. The horse has left the barn. But that didn't stop the lawyerly among this Galtist crew from filing a motion to "have their say" and to "get a seat at the table". Apparently they asked the judge to dismiss the case and implement their proposed solution because as taxpayers they don't want there to be a judgment. I for the life of me can't understand how they have standing to be a party to the case, but then IANAL.
One interesting thing the random plaintindants highlight
to support their Mar. 19 motion was that no other student had come
forward alleging the same treatment as Robbins. This begs the question,
without disclosure from the school how would any other student have the
information that would allow such an allegation to be leveled? And the
school district was busy throwing up it's own obstructions to keep key information under wraps.
Both of the individuals authorized to activate the system have been on
paid leave since early March. Initially, focus
fell to IT staff member Mike Perbix. Mr. Perbix has left a
significant online footprint. In many instances he discusses ways to
activate laptop features and even made a revealing webcast which
discusses the school's use of LanRev and makes it clear the system is
used monitoring laptops that would be in a student's home. In fact, he
seems to have done a great deal of engineering on the system. A
recurring theme in his posts were tricks to ensure the user didn't know
when remote features had been activated. LanRev, the maker of the
spyware* in question issued
a statement terming the usage "vigilantism". Never mind that
throughout the Perbix webcast, the software maker's employees
enthusiastically discussed the hows and whats of doing exactly what the
Lower Marion school district is accused of. This
blog has all the gritty details you could possibly want on Perbix
and LanRev.
As the case as proceeded, it seems far less
likely Mr. Perbix is a central figure. Carol Cafiero, the Main Line
district's information-systems coordinator, fought like a wounded badger
to avoid giving a deposition. While Mr. Perbix agreed. On April 1st,
the judge ordered Carol Cafiero to give a deposition and produce
documents and access to her home computer. It would appear that broader
discovery occurred sometime around this period as well. At deposition,
the fifth amendment was invoked for every question except her name.
However, it Cafiero seems to have refused to turn over her system or
other required documents. A motion to compel resulted in a $2500
sanction for failure to
comply with a court order.
There may be good reason for her to plead the 5th, but like the decision to besmirch Blake Robinson's scholastic record in the first place, it did have consequences. The motion to compel presents some pretty aggressive concerns. For instance, the motion notes that she would not even answer a question that asked if she had ever "downloaded pictures on to her home computer, including pictures of students who were naked in their own home. Ouch. Not the sort of thing you want to be unable to emphatically deny. Knowing there is a web-based system, had she accessed the secure site to monitor computers from her home, the downloading images part would indeed be the case. My assessment is that the naked pictures part was a clever ploy by the lawyer, pretty rough for a judge not to compel under those circumstances.
The motion also suggests that there is email evidence of voyeuristic
use of the system.
For instance, in one email , when one IT person commented on how viewing the webcam pictures and screen shots from a student's computer was like "a little LMSD soap opera", Caferno responded "I know, I love it" (emphasis in original)Needless to say, Caferno's attorney didn't appreciate the motion one bit, and pushed back hard.
Cafiero's lawyer Thursday night disputed the suggestion that his client had downloaded any such photos to her home computer. Lawyer Charles Mandracchia said Cafiero has cooperated with federal investigators and is willing to let technicians hired by the district examine her computer if the judge so orders.
He also said Robbins' attorney had never asked him for Cafiero's personal computer. "He's making this up because his case is falling apart," Mandracchia said.
And another direct result of the motion to compel was the school district authorized their attorney to release information from the investigation thus far in response to the motion's assertions. These issues would not have had a vehicle to reach the media had the motion not been filed. As I mentioned before, IANAL, but if this is what a case that is falling apart looks like ... were I the LMSD, I'd hate to see how one coming together looks.
(*Note: some people argue that LanRev isn't spyware. But this is
my blog, and they are just wrong. Employed this way it is indeed
spyware.)