Specter calls Senate hearing on Web cam issues

The Lower Merion School District's Web cam controversy, already the topic of a federal lawsuit and intense community debate, has become the focus of a scheduled U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing.

Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) said yesterday that the Judiciary subcommittee on crime and drugs, which he chairs, would meet in Philadelphia March 29 on the use of remote tracking software to take pictures using the built-in cameras on the student-issued laptops.

"The issue is one of surreptitious eavesdropping," Specter said. "Unbeknownst to people, their movements and activities were under surveillance. . . .

"There is an issue whether we need federal legislation to deal with the technological advances."

Specter declined to say who the prospective witnesses would be.

An attorney for Blake Robbins, the Harriton High School student whose family's federal lawsuit ignited the imbroglio in February, said the family generally supported the reason for the hearing.

"The Robbinses recognize that this is a new frontier in terms of technology and people's privacy rights," Mark S. Haltzman said.

School District attorney Henry E. Hockeimer declined to comment.