By Carl Hessler Jr.,
chessler@pottsmerc.com
NORRISTOWN – Montgomery County authorities are reviewing complaints and allegations made in a civil suit that Lower Merion School District used school-issued computers to spy on students at home to determine if there should be a criminal investigation.
“After reviewing the lawsuit and the news articles that have been printed, I made the determination that we should be looking at this to see if a criminal investigation is warranted,” District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said on Friday.
Ferman said she received “many, many calls” from parents at her office regarding the claims made in the lawsuit, which became public Thursday.
“Many members of the community have contacted our office,” said Ferman, declining to be more specific about the nature of the callers’ concerns. “Right now, we’re taking the calls and getting the information and just going to look at it to see if it warrants further law enforcement action.
“We’re looking to see whether there are potential violations of Pennsylvania criminal laws,” added Ferman, referring to state laws that address wiretap violations.
Ferman indicated she has been in contact with Lower Merion police.
“We will be jointly looking into the situation to see if it warrants further investigation,” said Ferman, declining to comment more about what she might or might not do in the future regarding the matter.
“I think the most appropriate response is one that is measured. I don’t want to overreact just because something is taking on a very high-profile place in the media. I think, from a law enforcement perspective, before we jump in and say we’re going to do anything, it’s important that we see what’s there,” Ferman added. “We have to gather what’s available right now and then make some decisions.”
A federal lawsuit filed earlier this week by the parents of a Harriton High School student alleged that the school district has been remotely spying on students inside their homes through their webcam-enabled, district-issued computers.
Lower Merion school officials launched a campaign several years ago to issue laptop computers to all high-school students. The program began at Harriton and has since been expanded to Lower Merion High School.
Student Blake Robbins and his parents filed the electronic-privacy suit after an assistant principal at Harriton High School told him the camera had caught him doing something inappropriate at home.
Michael Robbins, his father, confirmed with the educator that the school could activate the webcams remotely, the lawsuit alleged.
School officials told parents the district only activated the webcams to find missing laptops.
The schools' technology and security departments would activate the webcam when any of the 2,300 student laptops were reported lost or stolen, Lower Merion School District Superintendent Christopher McGinley said. He posted the letter to parents on the district Web site late Thursday amid widespread student outrage and the filing of a potential class-action lawsuit alleging wiretapping and privacy violations.
"The security feature's capabilities were limited to taking a still image of the operator and the operator's screen. This feature was only used for the narrow purpose of locating a lost, stolen or missing laptop," McGinley wrote. "The District never activated the security feature for any other purpose or in any other manner whatsoever."
The suit did not indicate that Blake Robbins' laptop had ever been reported lost or stolen.
The Associated Press contributed to this report