The school boards in this case actually tried to argue that they only use things like the webcam as a security measure -- blatantly untrue -- butt the school board members apparently did not understand that there were ethical considerations at play. They should have, and future educators using school-issued laptops need to understand the ethical implications, too. The threat of misuse does not, ultimately, preclude the use of laptops with webcams in an academic setting. However, knowing how easy it is for people to hack into the laptop and send information back to the school board, it is not unreasonable that people and especially students would be suspicious of this technology in the future. Thus, if schools are going to continue with programs like these, they must build in safeguards. That could mean altering the software and hardware on the computers to accommodate student privacy needs, and it could also mean significant...

& Rouse, C. (2008). Technology's edge: The educational benefits of computer-aided instruction . NBER Working Paper No. 14240
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