Family: Pa. school snared 1,000s of webcam images

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A suburban Philadelphia family claiming school employees spied on students through school-supplied laptops says tracking software captured thousands of images of students.

The motion filed Thursday by the family of Harriton High School student Blake Robbins says the records provided to them by Lower Merion School District also asserts that staff members viewed the images as a window into a school "soap opera."

Robbins filed a federal lawsuit in February claiming the district spied on students in their homes.

District officials have acknowledged secretly activating webcams to locate 42 missing laptops. They say Robbins' webcam was activated because he wasn't authorized to take the laptop home.

A school attorney says there's no indication that images were misused.

---

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com