iPad School Project Halted: Students Hack Security Locks in One Week

E-Learning has been an important topic in teaching and learning circles for years. Despite years of development, a clear guideline on how best to utilize the digital potential in learning operations has yet to be found. However, it’s clear that mobile computers are playing (and will continue to play) an increasingly significant role, not least because a single tablet or eBook reader can replace a whole stack of school books, which not only potentially protects the environment over the course of schooling but also eases the burden on children’s backs.

In the USA, a major project was set to bring a breath of fresh air in the new school year: In a Los Angeles school district, all 640,000 students were to be provided with an Apple iPad to make the most of the E-Learning potential.

However, to ensure that the children don’t constantly get up to mischief with the tablets, surfing the internet, playing games, etc., both in class and at home, the devices were to be equipped with a lock that restricted access to large parts of the operating system.

Security Locks Bypassed

As reported by the LA Times, the entire $1 billion project was halted after just one week. Students at Theodore Roosevelt High School managed to bypass the lock. The school was among the initial recipients of the rollout, comprising 31,000 devices. The bypassing of the lock wasn’t entirely surprising, as the system restriction was implemented through a user profile. Deleting the profile also removed the locks.

Before things got out of hand and the expensive project crashed, the decision was unsurprisingly made to stop the rollout. It is expected that the school board will work with Apple to resolve the issue. Apple has been striving for some time to bolster its authority in the education sector and establish a new foothold. Continuing the project is therefore crucial for Apple not only in terms of hardware delivery but especially in strengthening the content offerings.