My vote: Fire whomever made the call that "yes, we should do this to track our laptops, make it happen". The grunt was simply suggesting a (admittedly questionable) process. The IT dept head (my vote given the info I have) and/or the school administrators should have been aware that they were crossing the line and put a stop to its implementation. While I believe for many technical solutions you need to be able to trust your experts, you also need to be aware of potential impacts of their recommendations.
Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Just because you didn't see the speed limit sign that said the speed limit was now 25 and not 35 (and thus didn't know the speed limit was 25) does not mean you shouldn't pay the penalty for not following the law. It's these folks' jobs to pay attention. In the end this particular event is a lose/lose situation. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Dennis Melahn [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 6:13 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Friday OT - Web cam case "At the very least they should have to pay out %BIGBUX for invasion of privacy by an authority figure or some such." Who do you propose pay these bigbux? The school administrators who's only interest was in saving money - giving approval to an idea that would recover stolen school property? The IT department head who didn't thoroughly research what his forum buddies told him was a good idea because they use it? The IT grunt without enough real world experience to know how serious these abuses really were? Or how about the school and the district itself? Let all the "affected" families sue the school district for untold damages. Now the schools have to cut back on programs, activities, events, sports, library books, computers, etc. Millions wasted in legal fees and pay-outs. Who suffers? Every family in the district! It's my school tax dollars you will be giving to these families who have not been damaged AT ALL. So I disagree. Fire the decision makers, slap the abusers with whatever punishment is deemed necessary and get on with life. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
