A recent U.S school system scandal involving a Pennsylvania district spying on students’ off-school activity throughout a program installed on their Mac laptops just ended in a $610K settlement in favor of the plaintiffs.

Quoting PCMag:

“The Lower Merion School District will pay a total of $610,000 to settle cases filed by students Blake Robbins and Jalil Hassan…The $610,000 deal includes $10,000 for Hassan and a $175,000 payout that will be placed in a trust for Robbins. The district will also pay $425,000 in legal fees.”

Utilizing a “moral loophole” in a program installed on the computers distributed to all 2,300 students, the school management was first discovered to be using the machines to spy on  a student after summoning Robbins to the Assistant Principle’s office, accusing him of illegal substance abuse. His parents filed a law suit, as Hassan’s case came a few months after the incident, following a literal, yet not official, confession from the school to be actively monitoring him and his desktop.

After an official apology towards the students and their parents, an updated school policy and their reluctance to spend any more taxpayer’s  money, this case has been closed, but it does raise serious concerns regarding privacy issues, especially for organizations. This case is an example of a very hard-hitting way of collecting information illegally from designated victims. Such a method implemented by an organization to regulate elements not to their liking would carry a much more serious value along with it, and a case that won’t end with a $610K settlement and an apology, but much larger consequences affecting privacy and related regulatory hearings that could affect us all.