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NEC Admits To Ripping Off Schools Through E-Rate Program

Posted by timothy on from the infinite-takers-for-finite-pie dept.

MAurelius writes "The New York Times (regist. req'd) is reporting that NEC now admits to ripping off multiple low-income school districts by connecting them to the internet with equipment more advanced and expensive than necessary. Several orders of magnitude more expensive. All paid for by telephone rate-payers. That would be you."

9 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm not paying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'm Australian not American you insensitive clods!

  2. Here's a karma whore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Thanks to the broken moderation system

    1. Re:Here's a karma whore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      "found" the link? You couldn't add "&PARTNER=GOOGLE" to the end of the link? Give me a break... that is pathetic. It is also pathetic that you are posting on slashdot with 2 different usernames. Sad.

    2. Re:Here's a karma whore by sacrilicious · · Score: 1, Offtopic
      I'm thankful the grandparent found that link, and I'm thankful it was +5 so I could see it no matter what.

      Totally agreed! :)

      What exactly is wrong with gaining karma from doing something that benefits the readers of slashdot?

      I'm not one of those who uses the term myself, but I've always supposed that those who do fall into two camps: (1) the mindless zombies who just like mouthing off, and (2) people who genuinely feel that karma on /. should solely reflect the quality of original contribution and analytical thought, rather than the frequency with which a person inserts a link or mirror. I think I basically agree, though I thoroughly disagree with the consequent practice of name calling; the real solution - if there is one - would be for the /. editors to come up with a separate way to reward that kind of contribution, like temporary privilege escalation the likes of which paid subscribers enjoy, or something like that.

      --
      - First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
    3. Re:Here's a karma whore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Exactly - and anyone who thinks karma is actually worth anything can have all of mine.

  3. Re:US-centric by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    It's the look on your face that gives it away.

    That is my O-face. Ask your wife, she has seen it too.

  4. wow. Rough bunch. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "and is now beating restitution out of the victims"

    Most places we beat restitution out of the perpitrators.

    --
    All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
  5. Several Orders of Magnitude? by milletre · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    To say "several orders of mangitude" implies at LEAST one thousand times more expensive. here's a bunch of definitions.

    So, let's say the kiddies got a computer worth $1,000. By our submitter's logic, I could buy that computer for $1, or else it cost the kidz $1,000,000.

    I imagine our submitter meant to say several TIMES more expensive, but "orders of magnitude" sounded more dramatic somehow.

    Tighen up the rhetoric, people. English is an easily abused language.

  6. In NYC it doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I've been working in a lower east side school in NYC since last year. All the clasrooms have a wireless connecection (8011.b which was upgraded from the previous 8011.a)

    The connection randomly drops anywhere from once an hour to once every 5 minutes. This happens with every laptop and in every classroom.

    I've confirmed this same problem with another nearby school.

    Several people have warned me not to make too much of a fuss about it with tech support, since trying to get it fixed may get me fired.

    I suspect part of the problem may be that the access points are enclosed in metal boxes.

    Any ideas on how I can document this so that I prove to the right people that there is a problem? also, does anyone know who the "right people" would be, since the tech aupport division isn't?