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Comment by jancsika

4 years ago

> Why do we tolerate pranks?

As the author points out early on in this article, most school districts would not have tolerated a prank like this. In fact this is the only example I know about a prank this big that got the response of toleration the author documented in the article.

> You shouldn't be able to interfere with someone else and say 'just a prank bro'.

The students made a report of what they did and presented it to the administration.

I guess to be generous I could reinterpret your concern to be, "Do students in every school district in the U.S. get to avoid criminal prosecution under the draconian CFAA by constructing a complex hack tailored to avoid interrupting regular school business, then writing up a report and giving a powerpoint presentation to an apparently enlightened and tech-savvy administration to help them strengthen their network defenses?" In that case, point taken.

> The students made a report of what they did and presented it to the administration.

So what?

Can I push you down in the street and then hand you a report explaining how I was able to push you down and that makes it all ok?

  • Of course that's not okay. But if you're wearing a device marketed to you as a 'force field' because you're afraid of being pushed down the street and someone demonstrates that your force field isn't working by dancing really close to you, that's probably okay.