Segregation makes a come back...

[Alboin]

because you are the offender...

You're right. They should all be arrested and charged with felonies. Seriously, if their intent is just to play around, then let them play. It's just a school's server system, and if the school is too lazy to secure it to such an extent, then it might even help them.

I remember hearing about some students who made threats (IIRC, they were actually written obscurely in a locker room....) to their high school. They were charged with felonies.

Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard of!?

...

Blah... Between this and people who ridicule Wikipedia on false rumors, I could write something with the tone of Mein Kampf.

[Solar]

Seriously, if their intent is just to play around, then let them play. It's just a school's server system, and if the school is too lazy to secure it to such an extent, then it might even help them.

I see this a bit differently. Their "playing around" can disrupt whatever services the school offers other students, and could get the school in legal troubles. (You can be sued for just about everything on the internet these days, and it's most likely not the culprit who has to pay fees and fines then, but the school that has "allowed" it to happen...)

Good system administrators are highly-payed specialists, and even if you could get one to work for so lowly an institution as a high school, I'd rather this post were unnecessary and the money spend on education instead of securing the school computers against some hacker wannabes.

I remember hearing about some students who made threats (IIRC, they were actually written obscurely in a locker room....) to their high school. They were charged with felonies.

Isn't that the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard of!?

I remember hearing about students getting killed by other students running amok in a school about 15 minutes' driving from my home town. Laughter tends to die in your throat then, when you look at your own children and think of what could happen if someone took such threats too lightly...

Blah... Between this and people who ridicule Wikipedia on false rumors, I could write something with the tone of Mein Kampf.

Oh yes. We haven't even reached page 3 of this discussion, and here comes the "Nazi" club already.

[Alboin]

Good system administrators are highly-payed specialists, and even if you could get one to work for so lowly an institution as a high school, I'd rather this post were unnecessary and the money spend on education instead of securing the school computers against some hacker wannabes.

I'm not recommending that anyone go and hack their school, but rather feel that their severity is somewhat low when taken in the context of a school. That is, they shouldn't be automatically counted as felons and fined tens of thousands of dollars for just breaking into their school system.

I remember hearing about students getting killed by other students running amok in a school about 15 minutes' driving from my home town. Laughter tends to die in your throat then, when you look at your own children and think of what could happen if someone took such threats too lightly...

But that wasn't their intent at all in the case I was referring to. I don't see why stupidity warrants such harsh measures.

Oh yes. We haven't even reached page 3 of this discussion, and here comes the "Nazi" club already.

Actually, I wasn't referring to the nazi party, or anything related to them. Please note the word 'tone'. I was referencing the tone and writing style of a literary work.

[JamesM]

I remember hearing about students getting killed by other students running amok in a school about 15 minutes' driving from my home town. Laughter tends to die in your throat then, when you look at your own children and think of what could happen if someone took such threats too lightly...

But that wasn't their intent at all in the case I was referring to. I don't see why stupidity warrants such harsh measures.

Think about America for an example. They've had two or three EXTREMELY well publicised school mass killings. They can't let that happen again. We also had a similar case in the UK, although that was to do with a madman wielding a machete...

[Solar]

I'm not recommending that anyone go and hack their school, but rather feel that their severity is somewhat low when taken in the context of a school. That is, they shouldn't be automatically counted as felons and fined tens of thousands of dollars for just breaking into their school system.

You didn't mention "tens of thousands of dollars". You didn't mention what they did exactly. So I can't really judge what's appropriate and what is not, can I?

But having a good look at what someone has on his / her laptops is nothing out of the ordinary if they're caught at such "play", and making "joking" death threats doesn't really help the impression that they just wanted to "play" without any criminal energy behind it.

But that wasn't their intent at all in the case I was referring to.

Can't say, really, because you didn't mention any details, did you?

To "mix potassium cyanide in his coffee" could be taken as a death threat, in Germany a criminal offense pursued by the federal prosecutor (i.e., prosecuted even if the target of the threat did not file a complaint himself), punishable by fine or up to one year in prision. The line between saying so jokingly on an internet forum and a real death threat is thin, and in the eyes of the beholder.

Actually, I wasn't referring to the nazi party, or anything related to them. Please note the word 'tone'. I was referencing the tone and writing style of a literary work.

You can honestly mention "Mein Kampf" in any context not "related" to national socialism? That's like, mentioning "Das Kapital" outside a marxism context... nice feat.

[distantvoices]

PUtting aside "Mein Kampf", which is a real atrocity to read (yes, I've tried and put it away after a few pages for it is just plain ... yuck ... one can't even put curse words on it for it's author has made so many people do ... worse than bad stuff ... just at his whim.) and which isn't at all to be related to wrong doing at school,

I want to put this message for those who are up to no good (tm jkrowling):

If you 're about to do something bad, don't brag about it and keep your trap tight. If you get caught, you've deserved every punishment.

That's all there is to it.

Point is that wrong-doers aren't able to keep their traps tight for they have to share the short lived thrill of their but so successful wrong-doing with others - their bad, not mine. Everyone has a bad day.

just accept the punishment then and stop that friggin' hacking of school servers, goddamnit. I for one 'd kick your friggin' butt if I got hold of you for destructing a working service - and for spoiling it.

I've had enough of that sort of "Ha look that dumbasses I've shoved it down their ***, that cool virus. Innit cool, hahaha" assholes, whose wrong doing consequently ruined a perfectly well running school network.

Shame on you!

[inflater]

To "mix potassium cyanide in his coffee" could be taken as a death threat

Do I really need to write JUST KIDDING!with red, outlined, bold and 72 pixels tall font after my jokes?... Did you notice the smiley after my post? These comments about my "death threats" are just silly. I mean come on people, you aren't stupid enough to take everything 100% seriously, are you? It's starting to get very annoying .. Ah well, what can overdose of C++ do to a human brain?

Regards
inflater

[madeofstaples]

I'd take out my main hard drive

And what if they would search your house for the HDD and they will suddenly find your "back-up" CD's?

In that case the zyankali would be better ..... Or a big hammer or sleeping pills. Which one to choose?

Regards
inflater

If I took your computer, you'd give me sleeping pills too?

sweet deal

[Alboin]

But having a good look at what someone has on his / her laptops is nothing out of the ordinary if they're caught at such "play", and making "joking" death threats doesn't really help the impression that they just wanted to "play" without any criminal energy behind it.

Stupidity != Criminal Intention

You can honestly mention "Mein Kampf" in any context not "related" to national socialism? That's like, mentioning "Das Kapital" outside a marxism context... nice feat.

I don't see why not. I could say Shakespearian to describe a work. It's all history, why taboo it?

[Solar]

I mean come on people, you aren't stupid enough to take everything 100% seriously, are you?

Me? No. Actually I'd take offense if you actually thought I were; I just thought you'd take the rest of the paragraph into account, too:

The line between saying so jokingly on an internet forum and a real death threat is thin, and in the eyes of the beholder.

Then realize that I am stating this not as a "I believe it should be punished by...", but as a "it is punishable by...".

Since my opinion on the matter of death threats hasn't even be voiced yet, I don't think they are something that should, or even could, be make into a "joke".

Ah well, what can overdose of C++ do to a human brain?

While a smiley can make a jokeful intention clear where it might not be without, it doesn't make everything a joke. When a thread heats up like this one did over the last few posts, it's sometimes better to leave the statement in question out instead.

[Solar]

Stupidity != Criminal Intention

Agreed. That's probably why they wanted to have a look at that laptop, to make sure it was the former and not the latter. Besides, there's lots of criminal offenses that don't even need intent, where stupidity is fully sufficient.

[lollynoob]

Is everyone missing the fact that his school confiscated his personally owned laptop? Not a school issue one, his own computer. Honestly, I find that a bit disturbing.

On a side note, I tend to agree with Alboin on this matter; "hacking" and bypassing school security is about the best form of student subversion one can imagine--teenagers putting their innate rebellious energy to work in a constructive manner; the students learning about network security, and the school no longer having to hire specialists to audit their networks!

Really, it seems like most of this is all in good fun, surely nothing to be upset over.

Edit: On a side note, without hackers, where would we be now?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman

Haha.

[Candy]

what can overdose of C++ do to a human brain?

Develop it, nurture it, inspire it and if you happen to miss a bit, completely mind-block it for weeks on end. Did you try it?