The case of the webcam spying in the Lower Merion School District has now gotten two employees suspended for doing their jobs.

According to Philly.com, Lower Merion School District employees Michael Perbix, a network technician, and Carol Cafiero, information systems coordinator have been suspended with pay while the investigation into the legalities of the webcam spy case are investigated.  These were the only two employees charged with the power of turning on the webcams, a task that could only be done when they received a phone call from a higher up at one of the high schools to report that a laptop had been lost or stolen.

All of this came to light due to 15-year-old Blake Robbins supposedly being confronted about being involved with drugs due to an image taken of him in his home while eating Mike & Ike candies, Apparently Mr. Robbins had not paid the $55 insurance fee on his Mac Book, which meant he was not allowed to take it home with him. When this was reported to the IT department, they activated the camera and captured the image of him with the candies that set off this firestorm.

The school district is now under investigation by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Montgomery County detectives, as well as being subpoenaed by the grand jury.  Due to these investigations, both Mr. Perbix and Ms. Cafiero have been suspended with pay until such time as the investigations are completed.

What has come to light now is that the local police were aware of the software as they had been presented with images taken by the cameras in cases where the laptops had been stolen.  Marc Neff, a lawyer representing Perbix, told Philly.com, “Quite honestly, the police knew about these devices.  They were not in the dark about the fact that these computers were being tracked.”

All of the finger pointing aside, could someone explain to me why the two lowest people on the totem pole are the ones being suspended?  Did they choose to implement the software?  Sure, they may have recommended it, but someone above them had to approve it.  They also weren’t allowed to activate the cameras without express permission.

Now adding in that Mr. Robbins hadn’t paid his insurance fee is supposed to excuse all of this I’m assuming, but nothing changes the fact the school district did not inform parents that each of their children has “a loaded gun” pointing at them at all times in the form of a webcam.  Make all the excuses you want, this school district still messed up badly.

Steven and I spend each Friday evening going through TechMeme, making quick comments on each headline, but this week was almost painful the headlines were so weak.  Come on tech blogosphere!  Write better headlines so we can mock them with greater ease!

Also in this episode we give our first Braindead Award, but you’ll have to listen in to find out who won it!

Enjoy the show!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

Microsoft’s Courier ‘digital journal’: exclusive pictures and details (update: video!) – Engadget
iPad Available in US on April 3 – Apple
Google Docs welcomes DocVerse – Google Enterprise Blog
In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg Broke Into A Facebook User’s Private Email Account – Silicon Alley Insider
HTC on Nexus One cracked screen: “They don’t go in pockets” – CNET News
Cisco Wants To Rule Your Living Room – Launching New High Speed Network With Set Top Box March 9 – SiliconANGLE
Bing Maps Rolls Out Its Largest Image Update – Search Engine Land
Why Apple Deserves an Oscar Too – The Awl

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Scattercast is 85 … and it was actually a slow week!

- There was a meeting for Google Fiber for Kirksville, MO this week, very interesting stuff.

- The parents in the Lower Merion School District really get me going with some very stupid comments about how this whole thing should be dropped because the school apologized. Excuse me?

Only two subjects this week, but boy do they fill up 30 minutes this week.

Here’s

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for those who wish to download it, subscribe to Scattercast via iTunes.

Steven and I record a bit late tonight to accommodate me attending a local community meeting about my city trying the Google Broadband project.  We spend the first 20 minutes of the episode discussing what the meeting was like, what the chances are of my city getting it and what it could means for us.

To say I’m excited about the prospects would be an understatement, but I am trying to keep my hopes in check considering how many cities are trying for it.

Yet again someone is saying the desktop is doomed … seriously, isn’t this record worn out by now?  How many times does this have to come around?  You think about it for more than two seconds and you see it fall apart.

Enjoy the show!

Google Fiber for Kirksville, MO

In three years desktops will be irrelevant – Silicon Republic

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I want to know what the producers of Smallville have on the executives at The CW. Did they get pictures of them with German Shepards?  Did they kidnap their children and are holding them hostage?  There has to be something such as this going on to explain how this show has been renewed for a tenth season.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Smallville is indeed returning for a tenth pain-filled season.  If you are unfamiliar with the show, it is the story of Clark Kent in his formative years before he became Superman, but the show has departed so wildly from the source material that it is barely recognizable any more.

The problem is, the show could be good if it wanted to.  I don’t even care about the fact it is so far away from the original any more, it has set up its own mythos, and that’s fine.  What annoys me is the fact that writing is just so silly as to be insulting.  I’m not sure who they think is watching this show, but the scripting is so insanely bland that it almost makes you wonder if they are trying to drive viewers away.

I recently started paying attention again due to the fact they’ve been adding other characters from the DC universe to the series, which has made it mildly more interesting, but the scripting is still atrocious, the sets laughable and the costuming looks like a high school production.  At least have some pride in your work, which no one involved with this show seems to have any more.

Oh well, the show will be back for another year to torture us all … oh joy.

Steven and I have another one of those episodes where we kind of jump all over the place.  I know … you’re all shocked.

- Some parents in the Lower Merion School District apparently need some education in privacy concerns.

- When going on a military mission … don’t mention it on your Facebook.

- Oh noes!  A Twitter employee said something that could be interpreted in 500 different ways!  Leave it to MG “I have a theme song” Siegler to blow it out of all proportion.

- So, if a company does business in another country they have to follow the laws of that country … unless their home country tells them not to?

Enjoy the show!

(Links for this episode by Steven)

Parents meet to slam Lower Merion spy-cam suit – Philly.com
Israelis Nix Op After Facebook Fiasco – Wired: Danger Room
What We Now Know from the “Twitter Epic Tweet Scandal” – SiliconANGLE
Criminal Penalties Coming For US Internet Companies That Don’t Protect Human Rights Abroad – Silicon Valley Watcher

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It seems some parents in the Lower Merion School District aren’t too happy about the class action lawsuit that has been filed over the supposed webcam spying case, and they plan to do something about it.

For the past two weeks I’ve been covering the case against the Lower Merion School District over the situation with the webcams parents had not been notified could spy on their children.  While the class action lawsuit filed by Blake Robbins is still being certified, parents of several hundred students are moving for it to be dismissed due to the costs that will be incurred by the school district, which is funded by their tax dollars.

To this end, the LMSD Parents have set up a Web site for parents to sign a petition to get the suit stopped.  According to Philly.com, the parents held a strategy meeting last night at the Narberth Borough Hall that was open only to parents of students who had been issued a laptop by the school district.

Apparently the parents discussed various ways to block the suit reaching class action lawsuit, and one parent even went so far as to say the Robbins family should just move to another school district.

While I could somewhat see the point of the families, they lost me at the point they refused permission to Mark Haltzman, the attorney for the Robbins family, to attend the meeting to explain their side of the situation.

Why was he denied permission to attend?  Are they not concerned with hearing both sides of the situation?  Mr. Haltzman told the press he wanted to explain how at least an independent party needs to be brought in to investigate to what extent the student’s privacy rights had been violated, but apparently these parents aren’t concerned with this.

As I said, I could see the parent’s side for a bit, but then it became obvious this is a situation of, “Oh, well, it wasn’t my kid, so it doesn’t matter.”  What sort of lesson is this teaching the kids?  ”Oh rights don’t matter so long as it doesn’t impact you.”  I hate to always go back to this famous saying, but …

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The Lower Merion School District violated the privacy rights of all 2300 students whether every camera was turned on or not.  To say, “they apologized” as one parent did, or suggest this one child and his family should move to another school district doesn’t change the fact this school potentially violated the rights of the children.

Think I’m making too much of a deal out of this?  Then why are both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Montgomery County detectives investigating the situation?  Within 48 hours of the story breaking to the media they began looking into it.  If there wasn’t a possibility of there being problems, they wouldn’t be there.

Perhaps when it comes to the rights of children, parents should think a bit further than their pocketbooks?

Steven and I once again jump all around the blogosphere in this one.

- Are corporate blogs truly useless?

- Viacom got greedy … hope they enjoy 100% of nutin’

- CrunchGate … possibly one of the silliest things I have ever witnessed anywhere and it got even sillier on Tuesday.

Enjoy the show!

(Links for this episode by Steven)

Let’s Take This Offline – Inc.com
A Fond Farewell – Hulu Blog
A confession: I was the one who came forward about the Macbook Air – Sam Odio
Crunchgate – The Blame Game – 1938Media

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Yep, it’s that time again, folks. Time to see what washed up, has-been “celebrities” ABC has decided are “stars” for the next season of Dancing With The Stars.

I have to say, I’m getting more and more impressed each season as they actually get people I know what they’ve done instead of leaving me scratching my head.  They’ve also been nice enough to announce the professionals this time around from the get go so we know who will be dancing with whom.  The line-up is … interesting, to say the least.

I know the links are a tad hard to read, sorry about that, but I wanted to make sure you could have quick access to information on each person.

An eclectic group to say the least.  Some quick facts on each:

• Aiden Turner used to play Aidan Devane on All My Children.
• Buzz Aldrin is the famous astronaut.
• Chad Ochocinco is the  football players from the Bengals.
• Erin Andrews is the ESPN sportscaster who was involved in that infamous, and unfortunate, peephole video scandal.  Luckily the man was later caught.
• Evan Lysacek just won the gold medal in Vancouver for men’s figure skating.
• Jake Pavelka was just on The Bachelor.
• Kate Gosselin is the famous mother of eight children from Jon & Kate Plus Eight.
• Nicole Scherzinger is the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls.
• Nicey Nash is the woman with the annoying voice from Clean House.
• Pamela Anderson used to be on Baywatch and Home Improvement.
• Shannen Doherty was on the original Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed.

No clue who will win this one, but somehow I suspect it won’t be Buzz Aldrin …

Season 10 of Dancing With The Stars premieres on March 22nd.

Steven and I just go hog wild tonight with various subjects.

- What in the world went wrong with the PlayStation Network that they actually told owners of PS3 pre-Slim versions to not even turn on their units during an outage?

- Okay, look, if you have a WinMo 6.5.X device, face it, you aren’t going to upgrade to Windows Phone 7 Series … get over it.  Just because you can’t upgrade it is no reason to get all angry.

- Could someone please explain how Art Lindsey III could get press credentials for an event with attendees such as Dick Chaney, but he couldn’t get credentials for SXSWi?  Has the tech industry decided its better than political groups?

- Why are people paying over $1 million for comic books all of a sudden?

Enjoy the show!

(Links for this episode by Steven)

PlayStation Network Service Restored – PlayStation Blog
Windows Phone 7 Series Won’t Work on Existing Devices? – SiliconANGLE
Why is Austin More “Exclusive” than Washington DC? – SiliconANGLE

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Who are the people in this economy that have can be paying these insane prices for comic books?

Just last Tuesday I told you about someone paying $1 million for Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, and how that set a record.  By Friday that record had been broken.

Three days later?!?

An anonymous buyer spent $1,075,500 on a copy of Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman according to IO9.  The issue was targeted to sell for $100,000, but by the time the bidding opened on Thursday it had already hit $400,000.

This is troublesome to me because news like this is what set off the early 90′s comic speculation boom, something the industry has never fully recovered from.  People were anxious to get out of the stock market and went nuts for comic books for a while due to reports of extreme prices being paid for some key issues.  The thought process was that all books would shoot up in value, but the problem was that the new books were being produced int he hundreds of thousands, and no matter how much you tried to explain this to people, they simply would not listen.

Like the Action #1, this copy of Detective Comics #27 was graded as being “Very Fine” (VF), or an 8 our of 10.  I’m not sure where these VF copies are suddenly appearing from, but it is nice to see some still exist.

Hopefully these buyers aren’t expecting to turn a profit on these, but one never knows.