7 ms·

I'll preface this by saying that the felony aspect of this case, if accurate, is way out of proportion. I don't know how the US system works, but here in Austra

by ux-app 12y ago

I'll preface this by saying that the felony aspect of this case, if accurate, is way out of proportion. I don't know how the US system works, but here in Australia it is very unlikely for the police to be called in for a matter such as this one. > It's so clear to me that this kid actually is a hacker. Just in the Stallman sense of the word. I suspect he's just like any of us were at his age-- completely and utterly in love with computers. He was suspended before from using computers, and he found a way around it. Highschool is a waste of this guys time. We should have him in a CS program somewhere. Instead, he's got a few more years of hell. This is pure speculation on your part. He could be the next, up and coming, Wozniak, or more likely, he is an otherwise unremarkable trouble maker. As a male high school teacher I am acutely aware of the potentially career ending issues that can come about in my usual day-to-day work. We as teachers: 1. Are never in a room alone with a student 2. Are very careful about what we say/do around students. No curse words even among staff in the yard. 3. No suggestive language. Limited "joking around" etc. As a teacher I am constantly on the defensive. This is because I have a job that puts me in a trusted position of power working with other people's children. The onus is on me for my actions to be above reproach at all times. The amount of damage that could be inflicted on a teacher by a malicious student through the use of their system account makes me shudder. A truly malicious student could utterly destroy a teacher's reputation and ability to be re-hired by accessing illegal web material, sending inappropriate emails etc. We work very hard to maintain a spotless reputation. Just the accusation of wrongdoing could do great harm to a teacher's standing. Your characterization of this student as some gifted hacker is also more than likely wrong. In the past 10 years of teaching I've encountered countless cases of otherwise utterly unremarkable students who were obsessed with keyloggers and "programming" which amounted to little more that script kiddy BS. The truly gifted students were far less interested in stealing passwords than the students looking for a quick way to hack the system and cause grief/harm. > But the point is this is a smart kid that is being punished for existing in a fucked up education system I didn't see any indication that this was a "smart kid". Maybe he was. Shoulder surfing his teacher to steal their password doesn't indicate a high level of intelligence. The fact that the school had a dumb password policy is tangential. At my school we have a comprehensive computer ethics component to the curriculum where we do talk about the criminality of unauthorized computer access. Sounds like this student didn't get the message after his first suspension. A felony is ridiculous, but part of a well rounded education must involve teaching students that this type of computer access will get you thrown in prison as an adult.

jacquesm 12y ago
All those actions around the theme of acting appropriate around students at all times are the result of a fairly large number of teachers acting inappropriately at some time in the past. Surely kids pulling pranks happened long before teachers became much more sensitive to making sure their actions would not be mis-interpreted and this really is just another prank. Making such a big deal out of it seems to be a total over-reaction. FWIW the high school that I went to had a teacher cadre of approximately 40 teachers and three of those were confirmed to be paedophiles after I left the school (2 males, 1 female). That's a 'sample of 1' so take it with a grain of salt but to me it is a shockingly large number and it's those people that are the cause of your 'walking on eggs' feeling, not the pranks the students have been pulling on their teachers since the dawn of time. Changing a background picture is right up there with putting a poster on the backside of the blackboard, on a scale of the kind of pranks high school students tend to pull it's a complete non-event, the fact that it involves a computer makes the offence not much worse. This habitual over-reaction because something involves a computer really should stop, everything involves computers at some level nowadays. He's being punished for what he could have done, rather than for what he actually did (change a background pic and alert the teacher to get a much better password rather than destroy his reputation, in return they are now destroying his reputation). If a forged email can get you fired you have different problems, that email could be forged quite convincingly without access to your computer at all...
- ux-app 12y ago
  > Making such a big deal out of it seems to be a total over-reaction. As I already mentioned. A felony charge is a gross overreaction. Your characterization goes too far in the opposite direction. This is more than just a harmless prank. > three of those were confirmed to be paedophiles. I'm sorry to hear that. > it's those people that are the cause of your 'walking on eggs' feeling That's certainly half of the equation. The other half is the sadly routine issue of innocent teachers being accused of wrongdoing by malicious students. My school deals with these types of issues every year. Students often retract their accusations when they realise how quickly their angry accusation turns into a very serious investigation of said teacher. I've heard from first hand accounts this exact scenario play out a number of times. Most of these issues play out behind closed doors, so my sample of 3 or 4 over the last 10 years would mean that his type of issues is routine in a school setting. As you can imagine this type of process is extremely stressful for the teacher involved. > the fact that it involves a computer makes the offence not much worse This is flat out wrong. > He's being punished for what he could have done Taking unauthorised control of a teacher's computer is a very serious issue. An unambiguous message must be sent to all other students contemplating this type of action. The potential of harm is exactly what elevates this to a far higher level. > change a background pic and alert the teacher to get a much better password rather than destroy his reputation You are mischaracterizing the student portrayed in the article. From the article the student changed the background because he did not like the teacher. The fact the his actions were relatively harmless are indicative of his lack of imagination, not his good character. > that email could be forged quite convincingly without access to your computer at all... Spoofed headers could be easily challenged if it came to that. The issue of a student gaining access to a teacher's account and accessing it from school equipment greatly increases the burden of defense for the teacher. Now the access was not forged or spoofed in some way, it is indistinguishable from actions that the teacher could have undertaken.

by ux-app 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

All those actions around the theme of acting appropriate around students at all times are the result of a fairly large number of teachers acting inappropriately at some time in the past. Surely kids pulling pranks happened long before teachers became much more sensitive to making sure their actions would not be mis-interpreted and this really is just another prank. Making such a big deal out of it seems to be a total over-reaction. FWIW the high school that I went to had a teacher cadre of approximately 40 teachers and three of those were confirmed to be paedophiles after I left the school (2 males, 1 female). That's a 'sample of 1' so take it with a grain of salt but to me it is a shockingly large number and it's those people that are the cause of your 'walking on eggs' feeling, not the pranks the students have been pulling on their teachers since the dawn of time. Changing a background picture is right up there with putting a poster on the backside of the blackboard, on a scale of the kind of pranks high school students tend to pull it's a complete non-event, the fact that it involves a computer makes the offence not much worse. This habitual over-reaction because something involves a computer really should stop, everything involves computers at some level nowadays. He's being punished for what he could have done, rather than for what he actually did (change a background pic and alert the teacher to get a much better password rather than destroy his reputation, in return they are now destroying his reputation). If a forged email can get you fired you have different problems, that email could be forged quite convincingly without access to your computer at all...

ux-app 12y ago
> Making such a big deal out of it seems to be a total over-reaction. As I already mentioned. A felony charge is a gross overreaction. Your characterization goes too far in the opposite direction. This is more than just a harmless prank. > three of those were confirmed to be paedophiles. I'm sorry to hear that. > it's those people that are the cause of your 'walking on eggs' feeling That's certainly half of the equation. The other half is the sadly routine issue of innocent teachers being accused of wrongdoing by malicious students. My school deals with these types of issues every year. Students often retract their accusations when they realise how quickly their angry accusation turns into a very serious investigation of said teacher. I've heard from first hand accounts this exact scenario play out a number of times. Most of these issues play out behind closed doors, so my sample of 3 or 4 over the last 10 years would mean that his type of issues is routine in a school setting. As you can imagine this type of process is extremely stressful for the teacher involved. > the fact that it involves a computer makes the offence not much worse This is flat out wrong. > He's being punished for what he could have done Taking unauthorised control of a teacher's computer is a very serious issue. An unambiguous message must be sent to all other students contemplating this type of action. The potential of harm is exactly what elevates this to a far higher level. > change a background pic and alert the teacher to get a much better password rather than destroy his reputation You are mischaracterizing the student portrayed in the article. From the article the student changed the background because he did not like the teacher. The fact the his actions were relatively harmless are indicative of his lack of imagination, not his good character. > that email could be forged quite convincingly without access to your computer at all... Spoofed headers could be easily challenged if it came to that. The issue of a student gaining access to a teacher's account and accessing it from school equipment greatly increases the burden of defense for the teacher. Now the access was not forged or spoofed in some way, it is indistinguishable from actions that the teacher could have undertaken.