Senator Specter Wants to Extend US Privacy Curbs to Web-Cam Use

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/29-7

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) said this morning that the use of Lower Merion school-issued laptops' cameras for surveillance has inspired him to write proposed legislation that would extend similar privacy restrictions for sound recordings under federal wiretap law to pictures and video captured by cameras.

"A picture can be just as invasive on privacy as a statement," Specter said after conducting a Senate subcommittee hearing on technology and privacy in the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia.

Specter, who was the only senator at the hearing of the crime and justice subcommittee of the Senate's judiciary committee, quizzed a panel of law and technology experts on the implications of Lower Merion School District's remote surveillance of student laptops via Web cam. The school district is fighting a lawsuit filed by the family of Harriton High School student Blake Robbins over the Web cams' usage, which Specter and others alluded to repeatedly in the hearing.

"The incident raises a question as to whether the law has kept up with technology," Specter said.

[Skidmore]

1. Well, Arlen, do you have the same concern for privacy

when a city or state films its citizens without a warrant in the guise of providing security?

[Hawkeye-X]

2. Arlen, that's a Republican wide-stance. Go fuck yourself.

Go Joe Sestak - defeat Arlen this primary!

I hated Specter while he was a Republican, and I still hate him. He holds none of my values.

Hawkeye-X

[DCKit]

3. So pedophile (R)s chatting with kids can't be busted?

Nice move Arlen. Right in line with your parties fambly values.