A Teen Got a Free School Laptop — But Didn’t Know It Was Watching Him. What It Captured Changed Everything

In 2010, Blake Robbins was a 15-year-old high school sophomore in Pennsylvania when he, along with 2,000 other students, were given school-issued laptop computers to use at home.

The goal was to “ensure that all students have 24/7 access to school-based resources,” according to the Lower Merion School District, reported NBC 10.

But Robbins’ life was soon upended when he got called down to the principal’s office at Harriton High School and accused of selling drugs. School officials cited a photograph taken in his bedroom from the webcam on his school-issued laptop as supposed proof.

It turned out that the “drugs” Robbins was handling were Mike and Ike candy.

The laptop controversy is now the subject of a four-part docuseries, Spy High, executive produced by Mark Wahlberg, streaming on Amazon on April 8. (An trailer, debuted exclusively by PEOPLE, is shown below.)

“As a parent, I am always concerned about my kids’ privacy,” said Wahlberg in a statement. “This docuseries is a shocking reminder that our kids’ digital lives are constantly under surveillance.”

The documentary focuses mainly on Robbins as well as fellow student Keron Williams.

“Blake was a known troublemaker, and they used his images to accuse him of selling drugs,” director Jody McVeigh-Schultz said. “Keron was an African American honors student, whose laptop was monitored immediately after he had been racially profiled and accused of stealing.”

McVeigh-Schultz said the docuseries isn’t just “a story about digital privacy.”

“It’s a story about how we make decisions as communities, how we decide what’s best for our kids, and who makes those decisions,” he said. “It’s about what we prioritize and value, as our schools mold and shape young people into fully formed adults. It’s about the often-blurry line between protecting our children…and controlling them.”  

The case made headlines after the Robbins family and others filed lawsuits accusing the Lower Merion School District of using the webcams in the laptop computers to spy on the students at home.

The school district admitted to installing security software but denied it was used to monitor students, NPR reported. 

“At no time have I ever monitored a student via a laptop webcam,” Assistant Vice Principal Lynn Matsko told reporters, per NPR. “Nor have I ever authorized the monitoring of a student via security tracking webcam either at school or within the home. And I never would.”

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Instead, the district said the tracking program, which took photos every 15 minutes, was used to find lost or stolen computers, Forbes reported. It was used 42 times during the 2009-2010 school year, per an ACLU press release.

Over 56,000 webcam images were allegedly captured through the laptops issued to the students, WHYY reported.

The lawsuit triggered an FBI investigation for privacy violations, but the charges were later dropped against the school district, according to CNN.

The Robbins family settled their case for $610,000, per CBS News.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, the Lower Merion School District said they “did not participate” in the docuseries and referred filmmakers to the 2010 findings of the Independent Investigation by a law firm.

“Importantly, that extensive investigation found ‘no evidence that District personnel used TheftTrack to ‘spy’ on students, or that District personnel surreptitiously downloaded images from the LANrev server,” the district said in its statement.

Spy High begins streaming on Amazon on April 8.