Tyler Coyner, a student at the University of Nevada in Reno, hacked into his old high school's computer system to change the grades for paying students. Coyner, along with 13 other individuals, have been arrested. No one is exactly sure how he hacked into the computer system, yet they believe he must have gained access through a password of some sort. While he attended high school, he "maintained" a 4.54 grade point average. Receiving such high marks earned him the salutatorian honour, usually given to the student with the second-highest marks at graduation.
This is so concerning because due to the technology that is readily available, people are too trusting. This high school probably never thought they needed more security surrounding their grading system. Due to this, grades were easily accessed and then altered. This is unfair to the kids who worked hard enough to deserve these grades. Now, this 19-year-old boy has a criminal record because he was lazy and would rather cheat his way through the schooling system.
This story reminds me of the documentary we watched in class. In Asia, children were taught a song that described "netiquette." They sung about always being honest and being careful of others online. It seems that in these countries, computer addiction is their biggest problem. I am sure they have hackers, but it seems to be more prevalent here in the states. As technology is rapidly advancing, we as a society need to follow some etiquette guidelines. Just as a child you are taught manners, people need to be taught what is and is not acceptable.
It is obvious that hacking into a high school's grading system is not ok, yet there is still a great deal of gray area. For example, is it still doing your own work if you use sparknotes or google translate? Where do we draw the line? I believe this is one of the biggest problems with society today. It's not the technology, it's what we're doing with it. We need to not misuse the power we are given. Technology is a privilege and should be treated as such.
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I don't quite understand, he was enrolled in college and decided to change the grades for the students still in high school? That seems vengeful and just mean.. I agree that technology is a privilege and that people should use "netiquette." I did know kids in my high school who tried to hack the system, but being such a technology based school, it was an unsuccessful attempt for those kids.
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