At this point, wouldn't you have thought the IT person might have said, "Guys, do you understand what you're asking? Do you understand that it is illegal?" That's what you'd think but, again, obviously that didn't happen.

Now, it's possible the IT person was out of the loop on this one, so it might be that the whole thing was on a "need to know" basis and only a few staff were in on the scheme, but I doubt it. What makes me doubt it is the program came to light when an assistant principal confronted a student with an accusation of "improper behavior" and produced a Webcam image in evidence.

Exactly what the "improper behavior" was hasn't been revealed, but the big brother overtones are obvious as is the violation of privacy involved.

In the annals of dumb organizational moves, this has to rank up there with Apple last year approving the iPhone application "" for the App Store while turning down scores of other apps for undisclosed reasons. Or how about one of my favorites, , an effort to get passengers to relieve themselves prior to departure to lighten the load and save fuel.

These were ill-conceived, badly handled, and the organizations should have known better, and Lower Merion School District is right up there with them.