How not to protect your laptop computer

The Lower Merion School District's innovative program allowing students to take home laptop computers has had the unintended consequence of putting the district in the legal crosshairs. School officials stand accused of misusing the laptops' security system to spy on a student.

At the center of the allegation and the security system is the webcam, a small device that can transmit pictures from a computer to a remote location. Webcams represent an obvious threat to privacy, which has caused the recent uproar. But the district's use of the devices was misguided for a second reason: They're not all that effective at actually recovering stolen laptops.

We all cherish our right to be left alone in our homes, which is so basic that the Constitution codifies it in the Fourth Amendment. By surreptitiously putting cameras in laptop computers that students were to take home, the Lower Merion district breached this right.

Although the monitoring program was to be activated only if a laptop computer went missing, the lack of any real institutional controls doesn't create confidence in school officials. With unlimited discretion comes the potential for unlimited abuse.

Beyond that is the issue of the webcams' questionable efficacy as a security measure. The devices can tell you where a computer is only while it's connected to the Internet. Once the connection is closed, the laptop's whereabouts become murky - and, as everyone knows, laptops are portable.

So Lower Merion's security system will tell you where your property once was, but not necessarily where it is. Such a system is as likely to give you a tour of the area's coffee shops as it is to find a missing laptop.

The district has an obvious interest in recovering its missing or stolen property, but the method it chose is fraught with legal and practical problems. Automobile recovery systems offer a better model.

The hallmark of a good automobile recovery system, such as LoJack or OnStar, is a transponder that enables tracking of a vehicle after a police report is filed. This technology works as well - and is used widely - in laptop computers, and it offers many advantages over the school district's approach.

First, it would tell school officials exactly where a computer is at the moment, not the last time it was connected to the Internet. Second, the absence of cameras eliminates much of the concern about spying. Third, use of the security system is restricted to cases where a police report has been filed, greatly reducing the likelihood of misuse.

Lower Merion deserves credit for trying to expand students' learning opportunities, but its laptop security system was ill-conceived. This could lead to civil and criminal sanctions, while scuttling a cutting-edge educational tool. Given the relative ease with which the district could protect students' rights as well as its property, that didn't have to be the case.