FBI joins Pennsylvania webcam school spying investigation

The Pennsylvania school district accused of spying on students by remotely activating Webcams on district-issued laptop computers is now being investigated by the FBI, according to an Associated Press report. (Techmeme)

Federal investigators want to know, specifically, if officials with the school district broke any federal wiretapping or computer-intrusion laws, an unnamed source told the AP.

District officials revealed more details about the controversial actions that led to a lawsuit filed by a student and his parents. The officials acknowledged that they remotely activated laptop webcams 42 times in the past 42 months - but only to locate missing computers and never to spy on students.

The district also acknowledged that documents that are signed when students receive the laptops did not contain a warning that webcams might be activated without their permission.

The district also said that the only people authorized to activate the laptop webcams were the two employees in the technology department. The district has halted the use of the remote-activation technology.