Teenager Charged With Felony for Changing Teacher's Desktop Photo

[Miles Archer]

Teenager Charged With Felony for Changing Teacher's Desktop Photo

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/teenager-charged-with-felony-for-changing-teacher-s-desktop-photo-20150410

A student at a Tampa Bay-area middle school was charged with a felony cyber crime after gaining unauthorized access to a teacher's computer and changing the desktop photo. The fourteen-year-old eighth grader at Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday, Florida, is accused of accessing the computer of a teacher he "didn't like" and changing the desktop image to a photo of two men kissing, which the teen called a "prank."

In addition to the felony for the offense against a computer system and unauthorized access, the student was also suspended from school for 10 days. "If they would have notified me it was illegal, I wouldn't have done it in the first place. But all they said was, 'You shouldn't be doing that,'" the teen told WTSP Tampa Bay. Compounding the violation, the 14-year-old unknowingly accessed a computer that held the encrypted files containing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), a statewide standardized test, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

However, local authorities say that the student didn't open the FCAT files, nor did he change grades even though he was capable of doing so after accessing the teacher's computer. "He was targeting a teacher," Pasco Sheriff's Office Detective Anthony Bossone told WTSP Tampa Bay. "He tried to put pornography on the teacher's computer."

The teen was able to access the teacher's computer because he noticed that faculty members were each given unique, obvious passwords: Their own last name. "So I logged out of that computer and logged into a different one and I logged into a teacher's computer who I didn't like and tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him," the student told the newspaper.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

1. THe only reason the teacher would press charges is if he was really mad about the pic of

two men kissing, right?

[Peregrine]

5. No. The kid is probably an asshole

Being charged with a felony means the kid will be expelled or they will offer not to expel if the parent withdraws the kid and not put him in any county public school.

[Yo_Mama]

16. No, this is a pretty serious offense.

The access to the computer and putting sexual material on the computer would likely result in the teacher's dismissal. The teacher was lucky that someone else noticed the pic before the teacher had access to the computer. There would have been no way for the teacher to prove that it wasn't his sexual material.

It is a felony. It ought to be. The student will get a juvenile sentence and hopefully learn a lesson.

One of the ways to destroy someone in today's society is to put sexual material on a work computer.

This was not simply a prank.

[musicblind]

22. I have to agree with this.

This is more than a simple prank. I doubt teacher has much control over whether charges even filed at this point.

[Politicalboi]

2. A felony??????

That's a bit overboard IMO.

But who are these people telling him he shouldn't do it? If the school knew his intension's, how come they didn't let the teacher know?
His punishment is way too much.

[frazzled]

9. If you broke into a store ...

locked store you'd be charged, even if you didn't take something.

Breaking into somebody's computer is pretty much like breaking and entering. We live in a new cyber world. Maybe we don't have it all figured out yet in terms of crime. But kids need to know that breaking into computers is serious, serious business. It may be easy, but it's still a crime: like hot-wiring someone's car.

I'm not sure this is the right charge, but some kind of charge is merited.

ON EDIT: Also, I wouldn't (ahem) take any story in Rolling Stone at face value.

[QuestionAlways]

20. It is a short step to identity Theft

[NV Whino]

3. What? No death sentence?

Notice the difference in description.

Detective Anthony Bossone told WTSP Tampa Bay. "He tried to put pornography on the teacher's computer."

"So I logged out of that computer and logged into a different one and I logged into a teacher's computer who I didn't like and tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him," the student told the newspaper.

[Igel]

10. Also notice the difference in perspective.

"Inappropriate" would mean something a whole lot different from "pornography." As a defendant I'd go with the one that's a lot milder; as an accuser, I'd go with the harshest I could get by with.

Oh. Gee. That's what I'd expect; that's what I get.

I'd also point out that "changing the teacher's desktop" and "trying to" are different things. Presumably he did both and we're looking at two different accounts of a separate, different, thing.

[xfundy]

4. "He tried to put pornography on the teacher's computer."

Men kissing is now pornography. Jezuz.

[Romeo.lima333]

6. could porn on a teacher's computer if found by admin get that teacher fired?

[Igel]

11. In a heartbeat.

Or less if the person's not suffering from tachycardia.

Even if no porn were found, if they checked the search history and found that the teacher's computer had been used to access a porn site, even if nothing had been downloaded and the cached photos otherwise had been routinely deleted, the teacher's toast. And not just toast, but probably his certification and license would be revoked.

[Romeo.lima333]

18. this , i believe ws the kid's goal

[Yo_Mama]

17. Any sexual material.

Automatic dismissal, almost certainly, unless the teacher could prove he didn't do it, which would have been impossible once he came back into the school.

[Romeo.lima333]

19. i think this is what the kid was trying to get done

[Yo_Mama]

21. Probably without a whole lot of deep contemplation or forethought, but yes.

After all, teens are noted for impulsive acts.

Just having in his browser history a series of sexual searches would be enough to get this teacher in a lot of trouble.

[Make7]

7. The amazing part is he was able to crack their computer security at all!

[div class="excerpt" style="margin-left:1em; border:1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius:0.4615em; box-shadow:-1px -1px 3px #bfbfbf inset;"]The teen was able to access the teacher's computer because he noticed that faculty members were each given unique, obvious passwords: Their own last name.

[mercuryblues]

8. 2 men kissing

is not pornography. What is wrong with this school? The passwords assigned to the teachers are their last names. All the kids in school know this and their accounts do get hacked into by the students on a regular basis. This is the 2nd time this student has hacked into a teacher's PC. For 2 years the school has known that the accounts are easily hacked into and have done nothing.

For 2 years the kids have been hacking and the school has known this and done nothing. According to the article they never even told the kids it was illegal when they had been caught before. All of a sudden, because of a picture of 2 men kissing it becomes a felony for this kid.

[Igel]

12. Yes, their security is weak.

Like that matters.

Sometimes we act like anybody who doesn't take every possible precaution is automatically responsible for whatever happens to him. It's assumed that those who would break, enter, steal, hack, etc., etc., are somehow off the hook because they do what's easy, because they can't yield to temptation. It's sort of cute when they take advantage of somebody else.

Then we turn around and have the exact opposite attitude when it suits us. Some coed's decided to drink herself into a stupor in some guy's bed and is undefended as the guy violates her? Well, gee--that drunk guy is obviously fully responsible.

Even if in both cases a person's life can be ruined because of what some person transgressing the boundaries of what is permissible has done, whether done out of malice, hate, fun or lust, or just on a dare or because it's cool.

Either people are responsible for the consequences of their bad actions or we need to find some principled way of dividing the guilt. But we can't flip-flop just because we feel sorry for the group doing the bad thing or not. That's saying "right and wrong, guilt and innocence, are all dependent on my particular emotional state at the time." That's not a way to run a ethical, moral, or legal code.

[mercuryblues]

14. I am not

saying the school is responsible. This is a known problem. It only became a felony when the kid put up a pic of 2 men kissing. He got suspended before along with some other students and they were never told this was illegal the 1st time it happened.

This is no way compares to planning to commit rape. The kid is 14, he got caught before and was given a 3 day suspension. Was never told it was illegal, so he considered this a prank. Many kids do this at the school and don't get into trouble, even though the administration knows about it. So why are they pressing felony charges against this kid? He changed the screen saver to. 2 men kissing - that is why.

[dsc]

13. a felony seems like a bit of an overshoot

but that said, the suspension is reasonable and depending on exactly what the pictures were he could have gotten the teacher in major trouble.

[davidpdx]

15. I agree

Perhaps charging him with a misdemeanor that could be sealed upon him turning 18 if he does not get into any other trouble would be more appropriate. Give him some community service as the sentence. That and the 10 day suspension should be enough. None of that would fuck his life up permanently, but would give him a good hard lesson.