For 15-year-old Blake Robbins, life was pretty ordinary. Until Nov. 11, 2009, when he was called into the principal’s office at Merriton High School in the Lower Merion School District in Philadelphia. He was shocked to discover that the school was accusing him of consuming and dealing drugs. Robbins was even more surprised to learn that they had proof: a photo of him holding the alleged drugs. But something was off. The photo was taken with Robbins’ laptop in his bedroom.
It begged the question: How did the high school get a picture of a student in their bedroom?
The case caused a national scandal in 2010, and it’s now been given the docuseries treatment in Prime Video’s four-part Spy High, out April 8. Here’s what to know about the spying scandal that rocked America; one that wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of another show releasing a new season the same week, Black Mirror.
Read more: Schools Let AI Spy on Kids Who May Be Considering Suicide. But at What Cost?
A dream turns into a nightmare
At the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year, the Lower Merion School District gave their entire student population of 2,306 students (including both Merriton HS and Lower Merion HS) brand new Macbooks to streamline schoolwork. Unsurprisingly, students were thrilled at getting a top-of-the-line laptop for free. They would use AIM chat to keep in touch with their friends at school and home, video chat, play games…everything a laptop could provide was now at their fingertips.
What seemed like a dream come true became a nightmare when Blake Robbins was called into the office, with school officials using photos taken on his laptop to accuse him of a crime. Robbins never took those photos, and the school refused to tell him how they got them. Robbins’ parents were terrified that the school was using the laptop to spy on their son and other students (including their daughter Paige). The Robbins family…
