Violated HDD privacy?!?! What to do?

[Furion]

Ok, bare with me... This has happened about 5 days ago and I've had other replies from other forums, but I want your opinions on the matter...

The Story - Tuesday 14th Sep

I'm at a bording school and they dont allow computers to be on after 10pm at night... But my computer was on at 11:40pm and I was caught, thus my computer got convisgated and it went down to the teachers office for him to keep...

Later on the next day, I find my computer in the IT lab, with the side panel off and my HDD removed WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!!!!

Now, what I want to know is... If they remove my HDD from my PC without my permission, is that not stealing?!?!?! Also, by them doing that, it has voided any warranty that I might have had.. Am I right? Unless he was a qualified tech, which i think he is.

Do I have anything incriminating on my pc?
W... I do have the program installed that was used to hack the school network, even though I was not the person that had done it... also, i know that they still can see if i had pr[]uo[/u]n even if i had deleted it... recovery software etc... and my school is the sort of school that would go and try and find out.. that is the only reason why i think that they had taken out my hdd...
but according to my teacher, they did not find anything

A convo I had with my teacher- Thursday 16th Sep

Explaining to you how I got caught
1st) My door was open and a teacher came round to see if every1 was sleeping... He saw the light from my pc, and as soon as i saw him, i flipped the switch at the plug.
That is how I got caught

2nd) I spoke to the the teacher...
Me- "Sir, what is happening with my computer?"
Sir- "I sent it to the IT lab"
Me- "I know that, why?"
Sir- "I wanted them to check it and see if they could find something, (something along those lines) and i was intitled to do what i did. And they did not find anything"
Me- "Fine"

Deputy-head rector - Friday 17th Sep
I've also spoken to the deputy-head rector and when i told him the story, he seemed very shocked at what i had said. he said that he would spk to the teacher involved....

Today - Monday 20th Sep

According to my teacher last thursday... my pc should have been back in his office on friday... well... today is monday and it was still not there.. so i go to the IT lab and find it there... i ask the tech if i could take it and he said ok... so i took it back to my room, removed my hdd, and put the computer in my locker...

now, i just need to wait and see what will happen... they can **** on me for taking it, but that does not compare to my teacher going behind my back and lying to my face...!!!

==============================

What do you guys think about this situation? Do you think that the teacher was justified to do what he did? Its invasion of privacy looking through my HDD, and dishonesty! Also, according to my countries constituion, what they did was wrong... Invasion of privacy...

In the Constitution, under Bill of Rights, it states:
http://www.info.gov.za/constitution/1996/96cons2.htm

Privacy

14. Everyone has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have *

their person or home searched;
their property searched;
their possessions seized; or
the privacy of their communications infringed.

[E1000BASE-TX]

-_-...
EOC no help to you?

Ok ok I woud not fight this to much. You got your computer back and you where not suspended. Now whats the point of sueing the school?

[Furion]

Well, in the first line, I did say that I hade been to other forums and that I was just wanting to know what you guys thought about the situation.

I've been through the rules etc... and I don't find anything that deals with having your own pc... The only rules there are about computers are the school computers and internet usage... Nothing about personal PC's.

[octalpus]

I am going to assume that since you are in boarding school, you are a minor. Obviously, laws vary according to country, but for the sake of this argument, I'm going to assume that your laws mostly work the way ours do.

Operating on that assumption, your guardians (in this case, your school administrators, as they are responsible for you in the absence of your parents) can do anything they please as long as they are not abusive. They are not required to give you privacy. The constitution protects you from the government, not your guardians. Once you reach the age of consent in your country, you will have the rights to defend your rights in civil court. Right now, barring any abuse, you don't. Sorry.

Removing the hdd does not void your warranty. If there were anything incriminating on there, shame on you. Learn to follow the rules, which are generally to maintain your well being (yes, contrary to popular belief, you really do need sleep in order to function properly).

Now, about the grey areas... Yeah, what they did was shitty. You should discuss this with your school administrators and get a firm definition of policy. Ask for the policy to be detailed *in writing* as to what constitutes a violation when using a personal computer, as well as what the penalties of infractions would be.

[converge]

.. Ask for the policy to be detailed *in writing* as to what constitutes a violation when using a personal computer, as well as what the penalties of infractions would be.

then do everything you can to get around them and make a complete mockery of their system while staying entirely within the bounds of not getting in trouble. it will be a quidproquo of making each others lives miserable... kinda like the corporate world. ... or just abide by the rules i guess.. bueller!

something you might consider is syncing your clock to when your box has to be out.. set your power management to kill the screen and throw your box into suspend to disk. also script the poweron so that it will be on asap in the morning just where you left off the night before. ... or... if you are not _required_ to power the unit off, but just not be using it, simply kill the screen and let it keep processing while you snooze.

... or ... naw.. other cool ideas are probably beyond the scope of affordability and practicality.

[Furion]

then do everything you can to get around them and make a complete mockery of their system while staying entirely within the bounds of not getting in trouble. it will be a quidproquo of making each others lives miserable... kinda like the corporate world. ... or just abide by the rules i guess.. bueller!

also script the poweron so that it will be on asap in the morning just where you left off the night before.
... or ... naw.. other cool ideas are probably beyond the scope of affordability and practicality.

That is what I'm trying to do... Do stuff to them without breaking any of the rules...

and about the script... how'd I do that?

[Furion]

-_-...
EOC no help to you?

Ok ok I woud not fight this to much. You got your computer back and you where not suspended. Now whats the point of sueing the school?

The only reason why I've got my comp is cause I took it back because they are fucking me around!

[Zelazny's Cat]

It's not any different from them taking a bag in your room and searching it. Thing is, as far as the law's concerned, you're a minor under the authority of the school and they can (unless their policy states otherwise) do that.

Now, if they had refused to return it, you probably would have grounds to do something.

I'm going to assume you're in high school, in which case you'll soon be done with them, anyway. Don't screw yourself over trying to get revenge on them

[Furion]

It's not any different from them taking a bag in your room and searching it. Thing is, as far as the law's concerned, you're a minor under the authority of the school and they can (unless their policy states otherwise) do that.

Now, if they had refused to return it, you probably would have grounds to do something.

I'm going to assume you're in high school, in which case you'll soon be done with them, anyway. Don't screw yourself over trying to get revenge on them

your assumption would be correct... I finish on the 18th Nov... There is no policy in regards to computers in your rooms... Only that it is a privilage and it can be revoked at any time for proper cause. There is nothing say that what they did was right etc.

[windwalker3579]

The saying it's a privelage, and can be revoked at anytime I'd think covers the computer usage. Even in your room, It is part of the school, even though it's your room I don't think privacy is covered. As the others have said

[atripes]

make the ressurections stop

please, make them stop.

[ck3k]

What a lame ass school, I mostly use my compuers after 11pm. The public school I went to always threated to confiscate my laptop, but never did. My school (HS) was very shady, we had a dunce of a teacher who thought he knew about computers and always seemed to think I was up to no good, course these people had nothing better to do, I am going back for homecomming in a few days and I have some choice words if I see our old IT guy there.

[astcell]

Why wasn't the HDD in NTFS format with some cheaply available software for real security?

[Furion]

Why wasn't the HDD in NTFS format with some cheaply available software for real security?

Um, it was in NTFS

[astcell]

Sounds like they are a bunch of snoops then. I'd put stuff on the HDD just to give them something to do. I bet they search your underwear drawer when you are in class!