Posts Tagged → punishment

Not What You Would Call “Hacking”

How would you define “hacking”? Probably not like this:

A 14-year-old eighth grader in Florida, Domanik Green, has been charged with a felony for “hacking” his teacher’s computer. The “hacking” in this instance was using a widely known password to change the desktop background of his teacher’s computer with an image of two men kissing. The outrage of being charged with a felony for what essentially amounts to a misguided prank should be familiar to those who follow how computer crimes are handled by our justice system.

The modern use of the term “hacker” originated in the 1960’s and started life as a compliment, used described someone who worked on a tech problem in a “different, presumably more creative way than what’s outlined in an instruction manual.”

But even if you accept the current malicious application, this teenager is no hacker.

Instead blame the boy only for taking advantage of the irresponsible and careless adults working at his school. And a legal system more interested in making a high profile example of a kid’s “misguided prank” than fixing the stupidity of his teachers.

The Rubber Room

Act 1 of a recent edition of This American Life is a story about some very scary places deep inside the New York City school system that most people, even in the City, are completely unaware of.

The thirteen centers are called the “rubber room” (more formally: Employee Reassignment Centers) and it’s something like detention.

Except that it’s teachers who get sent to one when their principal or someone else thinks they’ve screwed up and where some of them stay for a whole lot longer than a couple of days.

Go listen to it and see if you don’t find it frightening as well.

Then go check out the even more disturbing information on the web site of a group of filmmakers who are making a documentary about the rubber rooms and who co-produced the TAL segment.