But any violations of the law on the part of school district employees, if that is found to be the case, should to be punished. "Interveners have no interest in sweeping [Lower Merion School District] wrongdoing under the rug," the motion stated. "They are as interested in a full accounting as are all other parents, determining the extent of that wrongdoing, establishing the appropriate consequences, and securing appropriate relief to ensure it does not reoccur."

The parents also claimed that the Robbins family had not paid the $55 annual insurance on the laptop issued to Blake Robbins; according to Lower Merion's policy, uninsured laptops are not to be taken off school campus.

Sen. Specter will hold the hearing in Philadelphia on March 29, but a list of prospective witnesses won't be released until early next week, his office confirmed today. Specter's goal, said a spokeswoman, is "not to find out what did or did not happen," but will instead be focused on whether federal laws have kept up with technological changes. "The issue is one of surreptitious eavesdropping," Specter told the Wednesday. "Unbeknownst to people, their movements and activities were under surveillance."

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Privacy Knowledge Center.