AntiNorm wrote:
"13-year-olds ARE NOT ADULTS. As tang has said here, you just aren't fully reasonable. Not to mention that you can't drive, you can't vote, and you can't do 34092 other things that "adults" can do. So why the fsck does our society persist in trying people as young as 13 as adults? I certainly don't condone what some of them have done, but this is setting a ridiculous double standard. Are they adults or not?"
I have to admit that this has baffled me for a long time, along with the 18-to-die, 21-to-drink rule (but your example is far more contrasting), and I think you've put it well. I don't really understand how we can have juvenile laws when we (arbitrarily?) discard them based on the convenience or heinous nature of the crime. Admittedly, I'm not adding much, just agreeing.
"Am I the only Slashdotter who is sick and tired of losing 9000 karma points every time they moderate?"
Recently I was accused of being a Karma Whore, which I thought was rather funny since I tended to not post to preserve hard-earned karma. This got me thinking about the nature of the beast and...I really don't care. It's a fucking number. Watch. Here is a link to goatse.cx. I realize that moderation is a useful tool to separate the wheat from the chaff, but in it's current manifestation on slashdot, it's a Herd Mentality Indicator/No Life Outside Slash hybrid meter, nothing more. Do you really think I could post a thoughtful, pro-MS piece w/out being branded "flamebait"? Unfortunately not. My only advice (which I realize you didn't ask for) is to ignore the thing. Let the people interested in exerting control over ideas do their thing. Just post your thoughts and your ideas. Personally, I'm sick and tired of what the Slashdot readership has, largely, become. Guess what -- it's not the editors at fault.
Manaz wrote:
"
Being so smart as to know what he was doing, one must wonder how he didn't already know it was illegal, or at least morally and ethically wrong,
and really, being 13 is no excuse - if he's smart enough to hack into the school district's systems, then he should know the ramifications of being
caught, and the likelyhood of it happening."
Pardon me, but bullshit.
First, technical ability and ethics do not walk in lockstep. My daughter knows how to pick up a plastic pail but clearly doesn't understand that it's not ethical to whack me over the head with it.
Second, you don't even know what he did. Judging from what both sides are saying (or rather, not saying) it could be anything from running nmap to sneaking in and looking around, to changing or altering grades. Since you don't know the variables, you're calling whitehat and blackhat activities morally equivalent.
I find it pretty suspicious that the school isn't releasing any details of the infraction, even to the parents. I'm sure it's under the advice of council, but if exploration was his only crime, entirely, then I think they were heavy handed. That, in of itself, doesn't make the school culpable, IMO. But this kid doesn't seem stupid. If he left a note along the lines of "I'd rather die than go to jail" then I can only assume that someone made a statement more pointed than "if you were an adult and did this, you could go to jail".
Slashdot Mirror
"13-year-olds ARE NOT ADULTS. As tang has said here, you just aren't fully reasonable. Not to mention that you can't drive, you can't vote, and you can't do 34092 other things that "adults" can do. So why the fsck does our society persist in trying people as young as 13 as adults? I certainly don't condone what some of them have done, but this is setting a ridiculous double standard. Are they adults or not?"
I have to admit that this has baffled me for a long time, along with the 18-to-die, 21-to-drink rule (but your example is far more contrasting), and I think you've put it well. I don't really understand how we can have juvenile laws when we (arbitrarily?) discard them based on the convenience or heinous nature of the crime. Admittedly, I'm not adding much, just agreeing.
"Am I the only Slashdotter who is sick and tired of losing 9000 karma points every time they moderate?"
Recently I was accused of being a Karma Whore, which I thought was rather funny since I tended to not post to preserve hard-earned karma. This got me thinking about the nature of the beast and ...I really don't care. It's a fucking number. Watch. Here is a link to goatse.cx. I realize that moderation is a useful tool to separate the wheat from the chaff, but in it's current manifestation on slashdot, it's a Herd Mentality Indicator/No Life Outside Slash hybrid meter, nothing more. Do you really think I could post a thoughtful, pro-MS piece w/out being branded "flamebait"? Unfortunately not. My only advice (which I realize you didn't ask for) is to ignore the thing. Let the people interested in exerting control over ideas do their thing. Just post your thoughts and your ideas. Personally, I'm sick and tired of what the Slashdot readership has, largely, become. Guess what -- it's not the editors at fault.
Anyway, thanks for your post.
My .02,
" Being so smart as to know what he was doing, one must wonder how he didn't already know it was illegal, or at least morally and ethically wrong, and really, being 13 is no excuse - if he's smart enough to hack into the school district's systems, then he should know the ramifications of being caught, and the likelyhood of it happening."
Pardon me, but bullshit.
First, technical ability and ethics do not walk in lockstep. My daughter knows how to pick up a plastic pail but clearly doesn't understand that it's not ethical to whack me over the head with it.
Second, you don't even know what he did. Judging from what both sides are saying (or rather, not saying) it could be anything from running nmap to sneaking in and looking around, to changing or altering grades. Since you don't know the variables, you're calling whitehat and blackhat activities morally equivalent.
My .02,
Something stinks, that's all.
My .02,