School district admits to taking 56,000 laptop photos

The Lower Merion School District admits that it captured 56-thousand webcam images through laptops issued to high school students. Sophomore Blake Robbins is suing the district. He says the district violated his privacy by taking pictures of him at home.

Lower Merion School District attorney Hank Hockeimer gave an update to his internal investigation at a district board meeting Monday night. The district is accused of using a software program known as Lanrev to spy on students. Hockeimer says computer experts have poured through hundreds of thousands of documents, and about 18 terrabytes of computer information.

“What we have not seen in our investigation is any effort to manipulate or to utilize the Lanrev system in any kind of intentional or purposeful way.”

Hockeimer says the vast majority of screen shots and photos were taken when laptops were reported lost or stolen. The tracking program took images every 15 minutes.

The district will be meeting with a federal magistrate Wednesday morning to establish a process for families to view any photos of their children. Lower Merion School District plans to release their final investigation report in two weeks.