13 students charged with Felony Computer trespass with school issued laptops 8-9-05

[networkman]

Let's not lose sight of the facts folks - no one has been convicted of anything yet!

David can probably appreciate that difference better than most of us since he's also been charged with felonies, yet not been convicted of said felonies. Being charged with a crime isn't anywhere nearly the same as being convicted of said crime. Charges can be dropped, defendants can be acquitted, mis-trials can occur.

Let's not be grabbing for the stones just yet. 😉

 

[Overkiller]

The students should be duly punished as they were caught and should face suspension, fines?, etc but a felony charge?? I find it problematic that something such as this is being put in the same view as say...beating someone up and sending them to the hospital. It appears that those in power, not everyone but a good %, fear anything that they do not understand technologically.

Take video downloads of tv shows. So I can tivo/or VCR record a tv show then give the tape to a friend or have friends over to watch it but I should NOT capture and rip a tv show into an encoded mpeg4 file and then say send it to the same friend in the first example....I have a problem being threatened with prosecution for something like that! Granted that was somewhat O/T...so back on topic.

who is getting whacked with the belt we talked about earlier??! The person with the lowest dC output this week 😀

 

[Crazee]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
So they are "Felons" in your mind right along side murderers and rapists??? 😕

Why is it that every time someone is charged with something like this people compare the situation with murder or rape? The students are facing a class 3 felony. Murder and Rape are class 1 felonies. Therefore they are not comparable.

Reading Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines, even if they get convicted as long as they don't have a prior record, they will see no jail time even if the judge were to "throw the book" at them. It is a level one sentence guideline and therefore restricted to restorative sanctions.

Under Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines, murder and rape you are looking at not seeing the outside world for quite some time if ever.

Do these kids deserve to be charged with felonies? Even the cutusabreak website admits:

Now all along the computer department was monitoring for these infractions and dozens of students were reprimanded and punished for their curiosity. Detentions and in-school suspensions were handed to kids by their homeroom teachers, often with no face-to-face with the disciplinarians.

Dave there are huge differences between your situation and theirs. They were notified in writing what was acceptable and they acknowledged this by signing the policy. They violated that and were punished. They continued to violate the acceptable usage policy and now are upset saying that they weren't punished enough.

Is the school culpable for having lax security? For the initial violations yes, but look at this also from their own website:

The kids deduced, that in order for their laptop to recognize a password, it must be stored on their laptop. The password file was quickly discovered. Almost all passwords are encrypted. And, it didn?t take long for them to find a program on the internet that would interpret the password.

They downloaded programs to crack the password even after their machines had their password reset and they were disciplined.

IT staffs at K-12 schools generally do not have the necessary skills to properly secure their environment. It is not however their fault. At the rate of pay they receive the district is lucky to have someone that can walk and chew gum at the same time much less properly secure an IT environment. It is not the district's fault the person is paid a meager wage because frequently their pay grades are set by state school funding laws, etc.

To me if you leave your wallet on their desk and another person takes it, it is still stealing even though you made it easier for them. Stealing is stealing. These kids knew what they did was wrong, and yet they did it and did it and did it again.

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Insidious
(better late than never)

While I think the idea of felony charges is outrageous, I am among those who believe the kids need a 'slam dunk'.

I am so sick of people not taking responsibility for their own stupidity and yes.. malicious behaviors.

This was no innocent prank and people should stop making excuses for them. They signed an agreement, broke it and that makes them delinquents in my book. They should be treated as such.

So they are "Felons" in your mind right along side murderers and rapists??? 😕

Put on your glasses and read it again..........

 

[dmcowen674]

Obviously some need a little help here:

Felony

a : grave crime formerly differing from a misdemeanor under English common law by involving forfeiture in addition to any other punishment

b : a grave crime declared to be a felony by the common law or by statute regardless of the punishment actually imposed

c : a crime declared a felony by statute because of the punishment imposed

d : a crime for which the punishment in federal law may be death or imprisonment for more than one year

MISDEMEANOR

A minor crime (as opposed to a felony). A crime - less serious than a felony - which is punishable by fine or imprisonment in a city or county jail rather than in a penitentiary.

This term is used to express every offence inferior to felony, punishable by indictment, or by particular prescribed proceedings; in its usual acceptation, it is applied to all those crimes and offences for which the law has not provided a particular name; this word is generally used in contradistinction to felony; misdemeanors comprehending all indictable offences, which do not amount to felony, as perjury, battery, libels, conspiracies and public nuisances.

 

[Crazee]

I don't need any help with definitions. Look at B in the definition you have from Merriam Webster. a grave crime declared to be a felony by the common law or by statute regardless of the punishment actually imposed. The state of Pennsylvania has declared this a felony by statute. Therefore, it fits the definition.

There is a difference between Class 1 felons (Murderers and Rapists) with Class 3 Felons (shoplifters, etc). Class 3 felons are often determined by the dollar amount of damages. In Texas for instance, shoplifting is a misdemeanor until the amount exceeds $500.00.

And anyone can play the definition game:

felonyfelony

A crime more serious than a misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of more than one year in prison.

If the students persisted in doing things that they knew were wrong according to the policy THEY signed and the school had to devote man hours to correct it, then the school incurred a loss. If the lose exceeds the amount for a misdemeanor, it automatically becomes a felony. In this case, the state of Pennsylvania has established that computer trespassing is a felony regardless of the amount of damages, but I am sure they could have documented man hours that would make this case a felony based off dollar damages since it usually does not take too much to get to that level. (i.e. the $500 level in Texas)

Again, as has been pointed out here by others, just because they have been charged with a felony doesn't mean they will be convicted of one. They have no prior record and likely this will be plead out to some sort of misdemeanor. If the prosecution insists on not pleading this out (which I find highly unlikely) I will lay odds with anyone that they will not get a conviction. Courts generally do not look favorably on putting felony records on young people for white collar crimes. This is also assuming that they have all of their ducks in a row and have documented everything for a strong case.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Take away the computers, access to the school networks at all times, give them detention, and a bit of community service. No reason to ruin their futures because the admins are worthless.

 

[Insidious]

Thanks for the help.... I can now understand that the charges may not be outrageous. 😛

Some people knowingly did a wrong thing.... they were warned.... they were given light repremands.... they ignored their chances to correct their actions....

This was no mistake, this was not simple curiosity, this was not "all in good fun".

These little creeps were told to stop their malicious use of those computers and they decided they were not obligated to do so.

They deserve whatever they get and I hope it is a life lesson.

Society is presently suffering from the exploits of pre-pubescent jerks like this and their "curiosity". I like it that they have a good chance of being labeled from this day forward so anyone dealing with them will have some advance warning of their lack of integrity and character. As well as their disregard for the well being of anyone but themselves. repeat/habitual criminals should be labeled as such! It is not these petty criminals that are deservng of protection.... it is the rest of us!

Anyone who thinks they should be sent off into the world to do this again and again without recourse is part of the problem... if not the cause itself.

-Sid

 

[office boy]

Originally posted by: Insidious
Society is presently suffering from the exploits of pre-pubescent jerks like this and their "curiosity". I like it that they have a good chance of being labeled from this day forward so anyone dealing with them will have some advance warning of their lack of integrity and character. As well as their disregard for the well being of anyone but themselves. repeat/habitual criminals should be labeled as such! It is not these petty criminals that are deservng of protection.... it is the rest of us!
-Sid

Well I'm glad you are so open-minded about kids exploring their surroundings, and learning. Yes pushing your boundaries, breaking things, and ?hacking?* are all learning, and all things kids are quite good at.

And as for you wanting a way to ?mark? these troublemakers. Have you never considered that someone in high school is likely to grow up or change later in life?
We are creating a society that will allow nothing other then the status quo and has ?zero tolerance? for behavior that doesn?t fit the norm. In this society artists will be locked up for being insane, geniuses will be shunned and we will all be worse off. Not a world where I want to live.

*Hacking is being used in the sense of changing the intended use of a device, not in the sense of cracking. (Think Make vs. 2600)

 

[office boy]

I forgot to add a question. How can these students be held accountable for these "terms of use" that they signed, wouldn?t they would be minors?

/man I miss the good old days... We even had a bomb making section in chemistry. Damn this country and its knee-jerk reaction to "terrorists"

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: office boy

Well I'm glad you are so open-minded about kids exploring their surroundings, and learning. Yes pushing your boundaries, breaking things, and ?hacking?* are all learning, and all things kids are quite good at.

And as for you wanting a way to ?mark? these troublemakers. Have you never considered that someone in high school is likely to grow up or change later in life?
We are creating a society that will allow nothing other then the status quo and has ?zero tolerance? for behavior that doesn?t fit the norm. In this society artists will be locked up for being insane, geniuses will be shunned and we will all be worse off. Not a world where I want to live.

*Hacking is being used in the sense of changing the intended use of a device, not in the sense of cracking. (Think Make vs. 2600)

The problem isn't that they tried, or even that they succeeded. The problem is that they got caught. Punishment of some sort is in order.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

The problem isn't that they tried, or even that they succeeded. The problem is that they got caught.

Punishment of some sort is in order.

No one is disputing that they should be punished but should they be punished as Felons???

 

[office boy]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

The problem isn't that they tried, or even that they succeeded. The problem is that they got caught.

Punishment of some sort is in order.

No one is disputing that they should be punished but should they be punished as Felons???

No doubt. It seems to me that having this laptop is a privilege, and that privilege should be revoked if it's not being used in the manner intended. But calling the police and trying to prosecute for computer trespass, is not only indicative of some very poor minds at work. But also of very poorly thought out policies, and practices.

 

[Crazee]

As I pointed out earlier, they have been charged, no one has been convicted. The US justice system is an adversarial system as is many other systems in the world. In an adversarial system, each side always tries to argue the extreme in the hope that the judgement will fall somewhere closer to their side than the other. The student's aren't being punished like felons their case hasn't even been presented in court.

The prosecution will keep this up in the hopes that they can get what they want out of this in a plea bargain or in the trial. The chances that teenage students will receive felony sentences and serve felony punishment with no prior record is extremely unlikely. The likely result of this will be that if the prosecution has a strong case, the plea will be to a class 1 or 2 misdemeanor.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Crazee
As I pointed out earlier, they have been charged, no one has been convicted. The US justice system is an adversarial system as is many other systems in the world. In an adversarial system, each side always tries to argue the extreme in the hope that the judgement will fall somewhere closer to their side than the other. The student's aren't being punished like felons their case hasn't even been presented in court.

The prosecution will keep this up in the hopes that they can get what they want out of this in a plea bargain or in the trial. The chances that teenage students will receive felony sentences and serve felony punishment with no prior record is extremely unlikely. The likely result of this will be that if the prosecution has a strong case, the plea will be to a class 1 or 2 misdemeanor.

So everybody is a Felon until lowered later?

No wonder people go out and kill with impunity. There is no teeth to "Felony". It's crying wolf all the time.

 

[Crazee]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Crazee
As I pointed out earlier, they have been charged, no one has been convicted. The US justice system is an adversarial system as is many other systems in the world. In an adversarial system, each side always tries to argue the extreme in the hope that the judgement will fall somewhere closer to their side than the other. The student's aren't being punished like felons their case hasn't even been presented in court.

The prosecution will keep this up in the hopes that they can get what they want out of this in a plea bargain or in the trial. The chances that teenage students will receive felony sentences and serve felony punishment with no prior record is extremely unlikely. The likely result of this will be that if the prosecution has a strong case, the plea will be to a class 1 or 2 misdemeanor.

So everybody is a Felon until lowered later?

No wonder people go out and kill with impunity. There is no teeth to "Felony". It's crying wolf all the time.

Where have I said in the post that anyone is a felon????

No one is a felon until they are convicted of a felony.

Again how does this relate to murder?? There are different classes of felonies. Murder is class 1 in the state of Pennsylvania and the sentencing is drastically different from a class 3. Please show me the correlation between sentencing. Shoplifting the right amount has always been a felony so the teeth have always been the same.

The only crying wolf is the people who post things like "OH my god you are better off raping or murdering someone than you are [insert white collar crime here]"

 

[networkman]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
So everybody is a Felon until lowered later?

No wonder people go out and kill with impunity. There is no teeth to "Felony". It's crying wolf all the time.

As Crazee has pointed out - you're using the word "felon" incorrectly. One must first be CONVICTED OF A FELONLY before one can be labelled as a felon.

I can appreciate that you're trying to bring attention to the plight these students are in, David, but aside from the perceived heavy-handedness of the charges being brought or considered, that is where the similarity ends. I don't for one minute believe that the case of these students is anything like what you were charged with - I just don't buy it.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be
The Kutztown 13

That is so wrong on so many levels. The IT guy was an immature idiot, and the administration are immature morons. Some kids tried to give the laptops back, but were forced to keep them. To use a common password that is written on the bottom of the laptop is lunacy. Then to use one that is a common word plus a number is mindnumbingly stupid. I read many of the comments, and a number were from parents who insisted that they were never notified before their kids were charged. And then to charge only a few of the culprits.

And I agree Kamper. Some people have stumbled onto MAJOR security issues, and instead of doing anything malicious they tried to notify those that needed to know. And what have they gotten for their "good neighbor" efforts? Prosecuted. :|

That's like me walking by a neighbor's house, noticing something funny with one of their windows. I walk over to get a better look, and notice that it's unlocked. Knowing they are away for the week, I call them and let them know. Instead of thanking me, they call the police and have me charged with trespassing.

The last thing in the world that we want is developers and admins skimping on security because they're counting on the legal threat to stop crackers.

But that's what we will get. The end result will be that security holes and issues will still be noticed, but no-one will say anything for fear of prosecution, just because some IT and managers childish egos cannot handle criticism or shown lacking. :|

My thoughts exactly... I hate how school districts usually know NOTHING about IT security... well one high school I went to had decent admins - our whole CompSci class got banned from the network for a week because we hosted a server on the network and played Tribes 😀

It was so worth it though, even if I had to code on paper for a few days 😉

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: networkman

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
So everybody is a Felon until lowered later?

No wonder people go out and kill with impunity. There is no teeth to "Felony". It's crying wolf all the time.

As Crazee has pointed out - you're using the word "felon" incorrectly. One must first be CONVICTED OF A FELONLY before one can be labelled as a felon.

I can appreciate that you're trying to bring attention to the plight these students are in, David, but aside from the perceived heavy-handedness of the charges being brought or considered, that is where the similarity ends. I don't for one minute believe that the case of these students is anything like what you were charged with - I just don't buy it.

Why charge a Felony if they do not intend on convicting for a Felony??? 😕

 

[networkman]

Originally posted by: Crazee
As I pointed out earlier, they have been charged, no one has been convicted. The US justice system is an adversarial system as is many other systems in the world. In an adversarial system, each side always tries to argue the extreme in the hope that the judgement will fall somewhere closer to their side than the other. The student's aren't being punished like felons their case hasn't even been presented in court.

The prosecution will keep this up in the hopes that they can get what they want out of this in a plea bargain or in the trial. The chances that teenage students will receive felony sentences and serve felony punishment with no prior record is extremely unlikely. The likely result of this will be that if the prosecution has a strong case, the plea will be to a class 1 or 2 misdemeanor.

Please re-read Crazee's quote. I've underlined the relevant parts. Just watch a few episodes of "Law & Order" or "American Justice" or read case law. Plea bargains happen every day of the week, in the same way that settlements occur in civil cases. The prosecution will try to make their case for the severest penalty that the law will allow - but they're often willing to accept a lower charge to same money and time on the cost of a trial.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: networkman

Originally posted by: Crazee
As I pointed out earlier, they have been charged, no one has been convicted. The US justice system is an adversarial system as is many other systems in the world. In an adversarial system, each side always tries to argue the extreme in the hope that the judgement will fall somewhere closer to their side than the other. The student's aren't being punished like felons their case hasn't even been presented in court.

The prosecution will keep this up in the hopes that they can get what they want out of this in a plea bargain or in the trial. The chances that teenage students will receive felony sentences and serve felony punishment with no prior record is extremely unlikely. The likely result of this will be that if the prosecution has a strong case, the plea will be to a class 1 or 2 misdemeanor.

Please re-read Crazee's quote. I've underlined the relevant parts. Just watch a few episodes of "Law & Order" or "American Justice" or read case law. Plea bargains happen every day of the week, in the same way that settlements occur in civil cases. The prosecution will try to make their case for the severest penalty that the law will allow - but they're often willing to accept a lower charge to same money and time on the cost of a trial.

That's inefficient and bullying especially on kids.

There is threads showing an elementary girl handcuffed and hauled off to jail for being a bratty kid or the 11 yr old grl because she threw a rock after being bullied by boys.

The use of Felony charges in this manner dilutes "real" crime and criminals.

 

[Crazee]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
That's inefficient and bullying especially on kids.

There is threads showing an elementary girl handcuffed and hauled off to jail for being a bratty kid or the 11 yr old grl because she threw a rock after being bullied by boys.

The use of Felony charges in this manner dilutes "real" crime and criminals.

This is a real crime. It has been definied by the Penn state legislature as a real crime. It has also been defined as a felony. If they did not charge then with it then that is where the dilution of crime and criminals would occur. That is selective enforcement. If you do not have consistent application of charges then you undermine the law the next time it needs to be applied.

Where this case severely differs from yours is that you should have never ever been charged with ANY crime, felony or misdemeanor. You were not given upfront warning or reprimands. You were not informed in writing or signed off to anything acknowledging that you were aware loading DC programs was a violation of their unenforced policy. The college that you worked at did not prohibit staff and faculty from loading chat clients, etc without permission so why should you have been in violation for loading a DC client.

These kids and their parents were given written explanations which both the students and parents signed off on. They were reprimanded numerous times and disciplinary actions were taken. The students by their own admission were reprimanded several times and continued to try to find ways to cause the school damages in the form of man hours. They even complain on their site that the discipline given prior to the charges wasn't severe enough. Can anyone say "Be careful what you wish for."

Sure the school was contributory initially with the stupid act of putting the password on the back of some machines, however, the students continued to download password crackers after the machine passwords were reset. They continued to alter programs so that they could use a remote assistance program (yes the evil spying program mentioned on their site :roll: ) to spy on administration.

Also, how does the 11 year old being led off in cuffs relate to this story? That was an action taken by police not the court system. It is not analogous to this situation. Neither one of the examples you used were charged with a felony. They were both anecdotal examples of police making mistakes not people being charged with felonies.

 

[Insidious]

@dmcowen674

It seems to me that your inability understand (or at least paraphrase accurately) the posts to which you are replying is way too consistant (if not downright convenient). Is there an agenda we should know about?

-Sid

edited to change "quote" to "paraphrase"... (god help me if I create another tangental reply opportunity)

 

[RaySun2Be]

At a school board meeting ~ a year ago, opponents of the high school?s Computer Initiative predicted that the administration would not be able to control the student?s access to inappropriate internet sites. The administration promised that they had the technology and would be competent and capable of protecting the students from these dangers. The administration confidently moved the program forward.

I give them an F in competency and capability

Unfortunately our program did not allow for the temporary suspension of computer privileges. Some kids who had trouble resisting temptation tried to turn in their laptops and were forced by the administration to take them back. And the administration still seems to prefer the option of felony charges, and intimidation over the simple withdrawal of computer privileges.

The 13 students charged violated that policy, said Kutztown Police Chief Theodore Cole, insisting the school district had exhausted all options short of expulsion before seeking the charges. Cole said, however, that there is no evidence the students attacked or disabled the school's computer network, altered grades or did anything else that could be deemed malicious.

So if there was no malicious behavior, just violations of school policy (policy does not equl state law), how does that equate to felony charges?

The administration explained to some kids and parents that the downloading of inappropriate imagery was the equivalent of ?vandalizing a schoolroom? or ?tearing pages out of a textbook.? The kids saw this as a ridiculous and laughable analogy

So do I

And finally:

PENNSYLVANIA

§ 7615. Computer trespass

(a) OFFENSE DEFINED.-- A person commits the offense of computer trespass if he knowingly and without authority or in excess of given authority uses a computer or computer network with the intent to:

(1) temporarily or permanently remove computer data, computer programs
or computer software from a computer or computer network;

(2) cause a computer to malfunction, regardless of the amount of time
the malfunction persists;

(3) alter or erase any computer data, computer programs or computer
software;

(4) effect the creation or alteration of a financial instrument or of
an electronic transfer of funds; or

(5) cause physical injury to the property of another.

(b) GRADING.-- An offense under this section shall constitute a felony of the third degree.

I don't see much of this statute fitting what they did (based on the facts/opinions/articles I've read) I think a reasonably good lawyer can get the charges dropped.

And from what I've read, ALL 600 laptops had the original admin password taped to the back of the laptop.

I also find it interesting that the IT director in charge of the project happens to be the brother of the HS principal. And niether seem to be capable of recognizing they made some mistakes in this matter. I also think they were so driven to make the program work no matter what in order to justify the huge expense. That would explain why they forced the students that tried to return the laptops to take the laptops back, even when the students were honest and felt like they couldn't handle the responsiblity.

Just food for thought. I still think there were far better ways of handling this than felony charges.

 

[Crazee]

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be

At a school board meeting ~ a year ago, opponents of the high school?s Computer Initiative predicted that the administration would not be able to control the student?s access to inappropriate internet sites. The administration promised that they had the technology and would be competent and capable of protecting the students from these dangers. The administration confidently moved the program forward.

I give them an F in competency and capability

I definitely agree with your assessment. They obviously didn't start this program on the right foot.

Unfortunately our program did not allow for the temporary suspension of computer privileges. Some kids who had trouble resisting temptation tried to turn in their laptops and were forced by the administration to take them back. And the administration still seems to prefer the option of felony charges, and intimidation over the simple withdrawal of computer privileges.

Students who "had trouble resisting temptation" - I saw that on their website and I had to laugh. I attended a high school that had a very advanced technology program in place for the time. I saw plenty of security holes and I didn't exploit them. Being a member of society is all about resisting temptation. There are times I want to rip someone's head off but I resist the temptation because I know it is wrong and illegal.

No one has checked to see if the school district's new program involved methods of curriculum delivery that require a computer. If that is the case how could they take away the computer privilege and still deliver an education solution to the student?

The 13 students charged violated that policy, said Kutztown Police Chief Theodore Cole, insisting the school district had exhausted all options short of expulsion before seeking the charges. Cole said, however, that there is no evidence the students attacked or disabled the school's computer network, altered grades or did anything else that could be deemed malicious.

So if there was no malicious behavior, just violations of school policy (policy does not equl state law), how does that equate to felony charges?

Unfortunately for the children, the Police chief is not the authority on deciding whether what they did was malicious behavior or not. That is up to the court. The students admitted themselves that they cracked passwords, loaded unauthorized software, changed the function of remote assistance software so that they could use it to monitor administration. Though they may not have caused any permanent damages, they persisted in repeating their offenses after being warned and reprimanded. This all caused man hours to be used to reconfigure and reload the machines. That causes a monetary loss and repeating the offense can go towards showing malice.

The administration explained to some kids and parents that the downloading of inappropriate imagery was the equivalent of ?vandalizing a schoolroom? or ?tearing pages out of a textbook.? The kids saw this as a ridiculous and laughable analogy

So do I

And finally:

Again unfortunately for the students the ultimate decision on the analogy is the court not them, their parents, you or me (who happens to agree that it is not a good analogy) I don't know that I would go as far as calling it ridiculous and laughable. I would say that a better analogy would be to putting up offensive graffiti. It is there for view by others and it requires some work to remove it.

PENNSYLVANIA

§ 7615. Computer trespass

(a) OFFENSE DEFINED.-- A person commits the offense of computer trespass if he knowingly and without authority or in excess of given authority uses a computer or computer network with the intent to:

(1) temporarily or permanently remove computer data, computer programs
or computer software from a computer or computer network;

(2) cause a computer to malfunction, regardless of the amount of time
the malfunction persists;

(3) alter or erase any computer data, computer programs or computer
software;

(4) effect the creation or alteration of a financial instrument or of
an electronic transfer of funds; or

(5) cause physical injury to the property of another.

(b) GRADING.-- An offense under this section shall constitute a felony of the third degree.

I don't see much of this statute fitting what they did (based on the facts/opinions/articles I've read) I think a reasonably good lawyer can get the charges dropped.

And from what I've read, ALL 600 laptops had the original admin password taped to the back of the laptop.

I also find it interesting that the IT director in charge of the project happens to be the brother of the HS principal. And niether seem to be capable of recognizing they made some mistakes in this matter. I also think they were so driven to make the program work no matter what in order to justify the huge expense. That would explain why they forced the students that tried to return the laptops to take the laptops back, even when the students were honest and felt like they couldn't handle the responsiblity.

Just food for thought. I still think there were far better ways of handling this than felony charges.

I bolded #3 because that is the section that they violated.

I do however agree with you that there are some things with the administration that are somewhat fishy. Remember though that most of the information out there is coming from the defense. We really haven't heard from the prosecution and if they do not have a real case, then you will absolutely be correct in the assessment that a good (maybe even a bad) lawyer can get the charges dropped.

My reason for entering this thread wasn't so much to support their being charged with a felony. I too think the administration could have done some more from what I have read, but I know we haven't seen much of the other side of this story.

The reason I entered this thread was because I have seen so many of the threads where people say things like "wow they would have been better off committing murder and rape" and "man how can you classify what they did as a felony?"

Well the children in this case are not innocent. The district contributed with negligence, but the students persisted even after being reprimanded and punished. Detentions and in school suspensions were handed out yet the parents are saying that it wasn't enough. Since when is the school district responsible for raising their children. I can tell you that when I was in school, if I had gotten any type of suspension my dad would have had his foot so far up my butt I would have had athlete's foot smelling bad breath.

School districts are placed in really crappy positions these days. No one wants to pay taxes to support them, but everyone expects them to have the latest technology and the skills to support it. They are expected by many parents to raise their children for them. To teach them right from wrong and discipline them without any support from the parents.

I volunteer at a few area school districts to consult with them on proper security setup. I do it because I know that if I didn't most likely no one would and I can tell you from working with them that they do not have the personnel to carry it out. I do not know how Penn is, but in Texas the state regulates how many support people you can have based on how many teachers you have. Also their pay grade is set much lower than the market pay level. I make much more than any administrator in a school district does even the ones much larger than the college I work at.

I think when we really examine this that you (referring to Ray) and I probably agree a whole heck of a lot more about this than we disagree. I too don't think a felony charge was the best way to tackle this problem, however I also do not think it is totally absurd (my assessment of this may change as more information comes out).