8th Grader Faces Felony Charges for Changing Teacher’s Computer Background

Time.com ^ | April 10, 2015 | Laura Stampler

[yuffy]

Pranksters be warned

Eight-grader Domanik Green was arrested on felony charges in Holiday, Fla. Wednesday after breaking into his teacher’s computer to change the background picture to two men kissing.

Green, 14, who was released the day of his arrest, said that he broke into the computer of teacher he didn’t like after realizing that faculty members’ passwords were simply their last names, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Green, who previously faced a three-day suspension for a similar prank, said that many students got in trouble for breaking into teachers’ computers.

[Osage Orange]

I saw that exact thing...in a dream.

[stars & stripes forever]

[What the kid did was wrong, but how is this a felony???]

He’s acting out what he sees every day on kids’ shows. They NEVER get in trouble.

[pfflier]

I have a problem with the general use of the word “prank” when discussiing something criminal.

[Darren McCarty]

I wouldn't make this a felony case.

Have him shovel horsesh*t for the summer every day in exchange for all charges being dropped.

[CA Conservative]

What the kid did was wrong, but how is this a felony???

If you access a computer without authorization and change ANYTHING, it may be a felony, depending upon the laws in your state. It make sense for the deterrent value if nothing else. We know this student accessed the system. What we DON'T know is if he altered any grades, accessed any personal information on other students or staff, etc.

That being said, the people running the IT staff for that school district should be fired for allowing teachers to use any part of their name as a password. Our school district requires staff to have passwords at least 8 characters long, must have numbers, upper case and lower case letters and special characters, and must be changed every 120 days. They cannot use at least the last three passwords they used previously.

Of course, that does not prevent them from doing something stupid like writing the password on a sticky note and putting i on the monitor or under the keyboard!

[CA Conservative]

The kid should have changed the password. Then he could have held the computer hostage as a bargaining chip for a better deal.

That wouldn't work. The domain administrator would have just reset the password and unlocked the account.

[DoughtyOne]

No kidding...

Kids with hyperactive minds and these clowns use last names for a password?

That’s very close to being as stupid as using the word “password” as the password.

[Talisker]

“Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done,” Sheriff Chris Nocco told the Tampa Bay Times Thursday.

Well hell, sheriff, then why don't you shoot him just to be sure? After all, a felony for an eighth grader who changed a teacher's computer wallpaper doesn't nearly go far enough.

:spit:

[Talisker]

I have a problem with the general use of the word “prank” when discussiing something criminal.

I have a problem with the general use of the words “criminal” and "felony" when discussing a prank.

[familyop]

"said that he broke into the computer of teacher he didn’t like"

Meanwhile, more journalists write like Russians who are trying to learn English.

[Ghost of SVR4]

Counter sue with a class action lawsuit, private info was on those machines (wouldn’t take much to find it; and probably a plethora of other un-wanted info) of each and every student. Bankrupt the school and then re-open it private with school vouchers.

[familyop]

"I have a problem with the general use of the words “criminal” and "felony" when discussing a prank."

Yep. Welcome to the gangster police state, and see my most unpopular tagline again.

[Minutemen]

The internets are now belong to Lefties.

[pfflier]

OK if someone steals your identity and plants false information about your life I guess thats all in fun.

[Talisker]

OK if someone steals your identity and plants false information about your life I guess thats all in fun.

It was a prank, and you're ridiculous, and you know it.

[Chainmail]

I'm still wrapping my mind around charging a 14 year old with a felony for what is only a tasteless prank. A Felony: a charge that could result in a year in prison, the loss of voting rights for the rest of his life, the loss of his right to possess arms the rest of his life and no chance of a security clearance.

Meanwhile, real criminals are given slaps on the wrist for really violent, dangerous stuff. We have lost our perspective.

[pfflier]

Thank you for your judgement. How silly of me to think otherwise than you.

[Fiji Hill]

At a class that I was once observing, a kid found a computer’s password and changed it. The instructor had to be very nice to the kid and gently persuade him to divulge the new password—which was “trans-alien”—if he was ever to use the computer again.

[CA Conservative]

At a class that I was once observing, a kid found a computer’s password and changed it. The instructor had to be very nice to the kid and gently persuade him to divulge the new password—which was “trans-alien”—if he was ever to use the computer again.

Either that was the teacher's personal computer or that is another IT staff that should be fired. You always have another administrator account that only the IT staff can access even if it is a standalone computer. If the computer is joined to a domain, the domain admins can always take ownership of the computer and reset the local user account passwords. But if the computer is joined to a domain, then the user account does not even reside on the local computer. So while what you are describing is possible, it is extremely unlikely in any network created after 1995...

[Fiji Hill]

This happened in 1996, so it probably antedated administrator accounts at this school.