posted on February 12, 2003 01:06:18 PM new
What do you want to bet that his parents or some psychologist will come up with a reason why this was OK for him to do because he suffering from a syndrome or condition that precludes him from actually studying and earning the grades he wants. And, besides, the charges should be dropped (& the higher grade awarded to him) because it will affect his educational future... Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
posted on February 12, 2003 01:19:35 PM new
Charging him with a felony is a bit of overkill, I think.
If this boy is guilty of "theft of intellectual property," I wonder what a prosecutor would make of the fact that I routinely faked notes from my mom getting me out of gym! I mean, you've got forgery, possession of a forged document, conveyance of a forgery, possession of tools used to commit forgery (my mom's purple ink pen) and theft (of my mom's purple ink pen.) Fortunately for me, the federal racketeering statutes had not yet passed, otherwise my mom's pen and my Duran Duran Trapper Keeper might have been forfeited as instrumentalities of a ongoing criminal enterprise.
You know, my mom has forgiven me. I wonder if the state of Florida has ...
[ edited by msincognito on Feb 12, 2003 01:29 PM ]
posted on February 12, 2003 01:31:15 PM new
Ashcroft will undoubtedly push for a death sentence. It's clearly an act of terrorism aimed at undermining confidence in the American educational system and requires further surveillance and restrictions to prevent cyber-terrorism.
posted on February 12, 2003 01:44:34 PM new
This incident reminds me of one class I took in junior high where a forward-looking teacher asked at the end of the year for us to write down what grade we would give ourselves if we could and to be honest about it. I gave myself an A+, which infuriated the teacher because I hated that class and I was doing grade D work. She asked me out loud in front of the class how I could possibly have been honest and given myself an A+. I responded that if I honestly had the power to write my own grades, I'd give myself A+'s all down the line. Needless to say, I wasn't awarded any extra credit for that kind of creative thinking.
posted on February 12, 2003 01:52:52 PM new
If he had erased a paper notation in a grade book and rewritten a new letter would it be a feloney? Some thing different storage system.
Nothing special about data because of what format it is in.
posted on February 12, 2003 06:58:29 PM new
He is probably being made an example of by his school to prevent this from happening again. Many school systems have woefully inadequate tech support and unprotected systems. Teachers and administrators often do not know how their system works, and when they realize how vulnerable their data is, they panic.His teacher may not know how her computer works, but she knows what grades he is making, so when she looks in her gradebook and sees that his F has suddenly become an A, she knows something has happened. What is pathetic is the number of times this has probably happened without discovery.
