New Developments in Philadelphia (MacBook) Webcam Incident

Back in February, Softpedia reported that the FBI would be opening up a criminal investigation over claims that Lower Merion School District officials had used school-issued laptop computers to illegally spy on their students. In a note to customers today, the company responsible for the LANrev remote administration suite said it would disable the remote webcam function that led to controversy at the Pennsylvania school.

“We know that webcam pictures are an ineffective tool in tracking down the location of a stolen computer,” Absolute Software, the new owner of the LANrev remote administration suite (formerly owned and developed by Pole Position GmbH), says, according to a report by TUAW.

“Taking pictures of lawful computer users without their permission, and without law enforcement involvement, is contrary to Absolute's policies and is inconsistent with our existing, more effective product offering,” Absolute Software claims. “Based on recent events, we have received many inquiries about TheftTrack from customers who are concerned and who want to ensure their organizations are not involved in a similar incident” the note adds.

According to the company, the webcam feature is being removed as of today, a move that extends to all updated versions of the software. The report in question cites the Philadelphia Inquirer as saying that two I.T. employees of the Lower Merion School District have been placed on leave, although the aforementioned investigation is still underway.

For those not very familiar with the respective incident, officials at the Harriton High School in Rosemont were said to have remotely activated the webcam on a student's computer last year because the District believed the respective student “was engaged in improper behavior in his home.” The incident only hit the wires when Michael E. and Holly S. Robbins, of Penn Valley, filed a suit on behalf of their son, Blake, seeking class action status for it.