Felony For Refreshing a Web Page?

therandomw writes "An 18 year-old boy was recently arrested in Ohio for telling fellow students to refresh the schools web page in order to slow down the server. He is being charged with a felony and is currently being held in jail. According to Canton City Prosecutor Frank Forchione 'This new technology has created a whole wave of crimes, and we're just trying to find ways to solve them.'"

Comments

Re:must be more zero tolerance

[Anonymous Coward]

http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs/

this one?

Video of Story

[wike]

Here's a link to a video newstory that provides some more details: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=18650&si d=45721&bw= This story has been up on Digg.com for a few hours, the school's website has been down most of the day

Canton Law Dept page

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the school's site is already DDoS'd, here is the Canton Law Dept. Let's see how fast we can take the prosecutor down.

Re:Canton Law Dept page

[Anonymous Coward]

Joseph Martuccio, Law Director
218 Cleveland Ave SW
Canton, OH 44702
Phone: 330 - 489-3251
Fax: 330 - 489-3374
jmcarman@ci.canton.oh.us
Think I might send the citys law director am email telling him to get real.

Number of hits

[Silverlancer]

According to the folks at Fark, who got to it before the slashdotting, it only had about 900 hits total. Come on, they crashed the server in NINE HUNDRED HITS?!

Re:This doesn't make any sense

[jfern]

The activist conservative United States Supreme Court ruling Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad of 1886 claimed that the 14th amendment somehow gave rights to corporations. The idea of "corporate personage" was born. Of course, they have a lot more rights than persons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v. _Southern_Pacific_Railroad

Re:must be more zero tolerance

[Rei]

If anyone wants to try and reach the kid (Michael Stone) to offer support, the Stark County Jail's contact info is:

4500 Atlantic Blvd. NE
Canton, OH 44705
Phone: 330-430-3850
Fax: 330-430-3839
Sherriff W. Bruce Umpleby

I can't find the boy's home phone to leave support messages there, although the article mentions that his address is:

13634 Mogadore Ave N.W.
Canton, OH (44685? Google maps finds the address, but USPS's site doesn't)

Which is a nice looking suburban home:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=13634+Moga dore+Ave.+NW.,+Canton,+OH&btnG=Search&ll=40.95199, -81.39827&spn=0.005348,0.013465&t=k

Re:must be more zero tolerance

[Rei]

I think the kid could have a case on the grounds of Brandenburg v. Ohio. His speech could only be illegal if it was directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action. In the case, Brandenburg was a KKK leader who invited a reporter to come see a clan meeting. The reporter taped him referenced the possibility of "revenge" against blacks and jews, and hostilly announced a march on congress. He was charged and convicted with trying to incite violent action, and the courts reaffirmed it, up to the Supreme Court which overturned it under the "intent", "imminence" and "likelyhood" standard for the inciting of lawless behavior.

1) The kid denies intent. That might be a hard sell, but it has potential.

2) Imminence and likelyhood: did any other kids even care about the site? Did anyone follow through? Quickly? That could be a show stopper right there.

School URL might be wrong, try this--

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.lakelocal.k12.oh.us/lhshome.htm

Re:School URL might be wrong, try this--

[Anonymous Coward]

Ouch, wrong one. I actually go there, the one in Millbury, not the one in Canton. Kind of confusing, actually.

Wrong Lake HS

[mazarin5]

That Lake High School is just outside of Toledo, OH. The Lake High School in question is near Canton, in the East.

I have just one thing to say to that!

[LnxAddct]

while true; do wget http://lake.stark.k12.oh.us/hs/ &> /dev/null; done;
Regards,
Steve