Hard Times at Hacker High
   -------------------------
   By Robert Lemos, ZDNet News
   July 14, 2000 2:25 PM PT

   NEW YORK -- "Fearfree" thought he did the right thing.

   When  the  high-school  student wanted to print out a presentation for
   class  on  the school library's color printer, the system asked him to
   type  a  password  to  change the settings. On a hunch, computer-savvy
   teen  tried a well-known default setting, one that many administrators
   fail to change: "PASSWORD."

   t worked, and
   he   printed  his  presentation.  Then,  in  what  he  thought  was  a
   responsible  move, the teen told the school's network administrator of
   the security hole.

   Instead  of  being  thanked, the network administrator reported him to
   school officials for hacking.

   "People just presume that because you know about computers that you do
   illegal  things,"  said  the  sandy-blond New Jersey resident during a
   panel discussion at the Hackers on Planet Earth 2000 conference in New
   York. "You get crucified, if you find a hole in their network."

   Fearfree  and three other teenagers -- also using their hacker handles
   -- told gathered attendees the problems with being a computer geek and
   curious in high school.

   "People  in  charge  are  not  able to tell the difference between the
   computer  users  who  learn  so  they  can  destroy  and those who are
   talented  and  curious,"  said  Gregory  B.  Newby, an information and
   library  science  professor  at  the  University  of North Carolina at
   Chapel Hill and the moderator of the panel.

   "The  (grievances) we're hearing today are the result of having fairly
   ignorant  school administrators having to deal with technical topics,"
   he said.

   School policies draconian?

   Another high-schooler, "Graphix," also complained that other students'
   ignorance tends to be a problem as well.

   During  a  network  outage, the teen -- unsure of why he couldn't surf
   the  Internet  --  tried  checking  various preferences in Netscape. A
   student aide saw him poking around and reported him. "He thought I was
   the reason the proxy server was down," said Graphix.

   School  administrators  eventually  believed his explanations, but the
   case  could have easily gone against him, he said. The penalties would
   have  been severe. "I could have lost all privileges to go to computer
   classes and to use computers."

   Increasingly,  the  students  find  themselves  signing Acceptable Use
   Policy agreements limiting their use -- or school officials would say,
   abuse  --  of the school's computers. While Phearfree and others think
   the agreements are draconian, others believe that a school has a right
   not  to  have its network -- and the majority of students -- disrupted
   by the antics of the computer-savvy.

   "You  go  out  and destroy someone's work. What do you get from that?"
   asked one exasperated audience member.

   Newby   agreed   that   many   high-school  students  don't  show  the
   responsibility  they  should  when  exploring computers. "One thing we
   forget  is  that  these  guys  are kids," he said. "The analytical and
   ethical  component  of  human  nature  is  barely developed. You can't
   expect high-grade development from them."

   "The  key  thing  is  to  enforce  responsible  use,  while not stifle
   creativity."