Are The Public Schools New Computer Programs Allowing Them To Spy On Your Children?
If you have been following the news lately, you will know that there is a new movement afoot to allow kids to get computers funded by the schools instead of the usual text books.
The thought is that the computers will allow the kids to be well equipped in the future. There are a lot of schools that are buying into this and they are equipping their children with the latest in technology.
This sounds very good in theory but there has been one snag in the process so far. In order to try to protect the computers from the kids abusing them, the schools have been equipping some of the computers with spy technology.
Not only have they been equipping the computers with spy technology, they have been using the technology to follow the kids activities at home as well. This has, as you can imagine, turned into a major controversy.
It all started with a school in Lower Merrion, Pennsylvania. They decided to use computers like everyone else which was to replace textbooks. But they decided to take it one step further.
When the students would take the computers home, they would activate the web cam on them so that they could make sure that the student was not abusing the computers in some way. This is fine when you are at the school, but what they essentially were doing, was putting a spy cam into people’s houses.
This means that if the child was getting ready for school by getting dressed, the person watching the camera would be able to see it. This is not only a bad idea but irresponsible as well.
You never know what the person who is watching the children does when they are not at work. Also they could be watching the adults who came in the room as well. There is no limit to the abuse that can happen with a program like this.
This must be a concern for any parent whose children is using a computer brought home from the school. Wanting to protect the computers from harm is fine but not to the point where they invade other people’s privacy. You cannot unsee what has been seen.
Giving someone access like this to your home is just not a good idea. So before your child takes a computer home from the school, you should ask what their official policy is when it comes to items such as this. You want to be able to see in writing things that they will and will not do when it comes to protecting their property.
You want to know this so that you can decide if you are comfortable with their policies or not. Also, find out the software that is installed on the computer.
By knowing what software is installed on there, you will be able to find out the capabilities of the computer that your child has brought home.
The schools district wanting to use computers in the classroom instead of books is a good idea. You want your child to be able to keep up with modern day technology. But you must also understand that there might be some risk in your child bringing an outside computer into your home.
Be sure that everything is on the up and up before you give them your permission.