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"The Legal Implications of Surveillance Cameras District administrators need to know the law and make these policies clear. By: Amy M. Steketee District Administration, February 2012 undefined The nature of school security has changed dramatically over the last decade. Schools employ various measures, from metal detectors to identification badges to drug testing, to promote the safety and security of staff and students. One of the increasingly prevalent measures is the use of security cameras. In fact, the U.S. Department of Education reported that more than half of all public schools used security cameras during the 2007-2008 school year to monitor students, a 30 percent increase over eight years prior. While security cameras can be useful in addressing and deterring violence and other misconduct, they also raise several legal issues that can leave school administrators in a quandary. Does the use of surveillance cameras to capture images violate a student or staff member's right of privacy? If the images captured on a surveillance recording are of a student violating school rules, may district administrators use the recording in a disciplinary proceeding? If so, are parents of the accused student entitled to review the footage? What about parents of other students whose images are captured on the recording? How should schools handle inquiries from media about surveillance footage? Can administrators use surveillance cameras to monitor staff? I outline the overriding legal principles, common traps for the unwary and practical considerations. Advertisement Legal Principles Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment prohibits the government, including public schools, from conducting unreasonable searches or seizures. Courts have generally held, however, that what an individual knowingly exposes in plain view to the public will not trigger Fourth Amendment protection because no search has occurred. Someone who is videotaped in public has n

"Facebook's photo-sharing app Moments will not be made available in Europe due to concerns about its use of facial recognition, it has been revealed. The app, which allows users to share mobile-phone photos with friends without posting them publicly, was launched in the US this week. The Irish data regulator said that users must be given a choice about whether they want it, with an opt-in. There is currently no timetable for such a feature, said Facebook. Richard Allen, Facebook's head of policy in Europe said: "We don't have an opt-in mechanism so it is turned off until we develop one." Moments arranges the photos on someone's mobile phone into groups, based on when they were taken. The facial recognition technology can identify Facebook friends to whom users can then forward the photos. Combining data The social network is taking facial recognition very seriously and announced earlier this year that its DeepFace AI system was powerful enough to identify users with a 97.25% level of accuracy. But the social network's use of the technology has not gone down well with European and Canadian regulators. In 2010, Facebook rolled out facial recognition technology to identify people in photos but, two years later, it was forced to withdraw the technology from Europe, after Ireland's data protection commission highlighted privacy issues. At the time, the privacy commissioner of Canada said: "Of significant privacy concern is the fact that Facebook has the ability to combine facial biometric data with extensive information about users, including biographic data, location data, and associations with friends." The system, which is increasingly used by technology and other firms, is the subject of debate in the US too. Recent talks between privacy organisations and government agencies aimed at creating a code of conduct around facial recognition technology broke down after they failed to reach agreement. "At a base minimum, people should be able to walk down a publ

Facebook has dozens of toggles for privacy settings on its service, and a privacy policy longer than the US Constitution. And while many users of the service know that they're sharing information with their friends and associates, they may be surprised to find out just exactly what they're sharing, and with what groups of people. New programs that offer to tie social media integration into outside web sites offer an ever-more social experience, but they also expose even more of your online activities to social media service providers and advertisers. Is it getting too hard to keep hold of our privacy online?

"Facebook has been nudging its users - first gently, then firmly - to review and update their privacy settings."

"The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has accused Google of launching "the single greatest breach in the history of privacy". Includes a video.

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world use Tor for a wide variety of reasons: journalists and bloggers, human rights workers, law enforcement officers, soldiers, corporations, citizens of repressive regimes, and just ordinary citizens. (Note: sometimes ITGS students need to be able to access sites that are sometimes blocked)

""Why should I worry about privacy and security?"

an interesting take on privacy. I wonder how many students really think before they post? It should start an interesting debate about what information should remain private.

Raises serious privacy issues.

Data collection from palm readers.

Interesting site. Great for privacy, particularly of the criminals Innocent until proven guilty.

Effective March 1, 2012. New, all in one, Google Privacy Policy