Hard times at Hacker High

[Paul Howell]

At
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20000714/tc/hard_times_at_hacker_high_1.html

Friday July 14 06:15 PM EDT
Hard times at Hacker High

By Robert Lemos, ZDNet News


Being computer-savvy and in high school can be asking for trouble. Teen
hackers fight for understanding at H2K.

NEW YORK -- "Phearfree" 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."

It 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."

Phearfree 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."