Digitaltopia

Its far from uncommon for High School age kids to be steps ahead of school administration when it comes to computer technology. However its much less common for the school administration to lash out against the students with felony charges when they are caught fiddling around where they should not have been. 13 students in the town of Kutztown, PA are facing felony charges of 'Computer Trespass'. Parents think the school is vastly over reacting.

The school issues students Apple iBooks, loaded with programs to filter what the students access online. The 13 dangerous teens are accused of finding ways to bypass the software. They also stole teachers passwords and installed forbidden software like instant messaging clients on the iBooks.

A family member of one of the students has setup a website trying to get out their side of the story. These kids could have there futures seriously effected by these charges. Where they in the wrong? Yeah sure, but maybe the school should have had better security. And in fact these kids finding obvious holes in the system will allow the school to lock down the system tighter for the next class. I encourage my readers to swing past the site, and if you live in the PA area contact your local representatives and see what you can do to help the kids out. These felony charges could affect what schools these kids are able to get into and what jobs they are eligible for in the future. Does the punishment really fit the crime?