1. It depends on whether you can afford the software in the first place.
Not every school has a lot of money to invest in protection of their
property.
If we were to protect a 120 laptops using CompuTrace, it would cost my
school $6,000. To have something with similar features, you can use the
Orbicule Undercover for $20 to cover 200 laptops. For some schools, $6,000
is a lot of money they can use elsewhere to improve the school's use of
technology.
2.
Start a criminal investigation:
Without the camera feature, the publicity of it all could lead to greater
damage to the school. Let say that the photo option is not available. We
would be able to acquire the IP address, go to the police with the IP #, get
a court warrant to subpoena the ISP for the address linked to the IP, and
have the police charge the person (possibly a student) publicly with grand
larceny ($1000+, felony).
Start an in-house private investigation:
With the camera, you can handle the issue in house without going public. We
want to create alumni that is proud of going to our school, and someday they
will donate money back into our school when they become successful leaders.
Which is the better path? Criminal investigation or in house private
investigation?
I'm sure the potential for tech staff to abuse the camera is there. I'm
also sure the tech staff have the ability to go through every students
emails and files, but I'm sure the tech staff have something else better to
do such as solving the trouble tickets that pops up everyday at school or
using technology to improve the education at the school.
Besides, the "capture the thief" feature should only be enabled when there
is a problem. If the camera feature is enabled on the laptop that has been
taken away from the school without permission (aka stolen), does the thief
have any rights to personal privacy? Having a camera maybe like owning a
gun. There is potential for misuse, but guns can also protect your family
or feed them.
Brian Lee
Manlius Pebble Hill School
> From: Jason Johnson <jasonpj@yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
> Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 16:00:11 -0700
> To: <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Laptop Security software
>
> 1. How often
> For any solution I would recommend examining two things.
>
> 1. How often does a laptop have to be stolen for any paid service to pay for
> itself? This same equation should also be applied to laptop insurance paid by
> the school. Self-funding laptop replacement can be a very viable option
> (given total cost savings over security and/or insurance), but you should keep
> accurate enough records to revisit that decision every 3-5 years.
>
> 2. Even if it is free, if you have a program that allows students or teachers
> to take laptops home I would be leery of any product that automatically takes
> pictures, and even of one where the school can activate that feature
> post-theft. It is open to abuse and misuse by tech staff and could possibly
> lead to a range of issue for the school or tech staff who have access to the
> captured images. A recent op-ed in the Washington Post, while not exactly
> analogous, will lend some insight into the risk schools run with images of
> students in particular.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/17/AR200904170266
> 3.html
>
>
> _J____________________________
> Jason at jasonpj@yahoo.com
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Gail Braddock <lgbraddock@gmail.com>
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 3:58:43 PM
> Subject: Laptop Security software
>
> Folks, you always come up with good solutions.
>
> This is my first time to jump in with a question.
> I am the Tech Specialist fro St. George's Independent School, Memphis, TN
> Last year at Lausanne's Laptop Institute someone told me about a website
> that had an open source solution that you could use for security purposes. I
> have misplaced that note.
>
> I am looking for software that could be installed that would help locate a
> stolen computer. I need it as we begin to image computers for next year.
>
> It actually could not be deleted by a thief that lifted a computer and would
> take a picture with the built-in camera if needed. Then, It would send it
> back information to the owner.
>
> You seem to be a good source of good open source solutions....so...
>
> Have you run across a solution that would work on a Mac that is Open source?
> Since we are an urban campus we have had some laptops walk right out of the
> building!
> Thanks,
> Gail Braddock
> Tech Specialist
> St. George's Independent School
> 3749 Kimball
> Memphis, TN 38111
> www.sgis.org
> --
>
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>
>
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