Students who were photographed at home by the Lower Merion School District IT department will have the opportunity to see the photos thanks to a court order issued Friday. The students will be able to view the images with or without their parents, and request that the court block their parents from seeing "sensitive" photos if they so choose.

The purpose of the order is apparently to make students aware of exactly what photos were taken, when, and where. According to the order, students and their parents or guardians will receive a notice in the mail if the students were identified in any of the "thousands" of photos taken by administrators. Students and/or parents will not receive a copy of the images, but will be able to view them in a private screening area provided by investigators. If students request that their parents not be allowed to see certain photos, the judge in the case will discuss the matter with the student before deciding.

This will likely be a massive undertaking, considering that nearly 58,000 photos were taken by the school district's IT staff. An "independent" investigation (conducted by a firm hired by the school district) recently concluded that most of those photos were never seen by a human being—despite other evidence in the case showing that the IT department viewed the images as entertainment and the fact that a student was disciplined at school because of what he was seen doing at home via his MacBook's webcam.

Friday's order came just days after another ruling from a different judge directing that the photos be given to the FBI for review. The FBI began investigating the case back in February to determine whether the school broke any federal wiretap laws; that investigation is ongoing.