[PCWorld]

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[butlerwm]

I've worked in the IT department of our school district for the past eight years. I've seen network security go from non-existant, to fully locked-down, to moderately open.

What student pranksters don't realize is that IT has to walk a tightrope between total security and allowing student access to sites that filtering software would block. I lost track of how many times I caught a gaggle of students snickering in a corner because they figured out a way to get to the latest social networking site that previously had been blocked.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to defend the Admin in question because I don't know him/her or the circumstances under which he/she must work. What I do know, is that if students would spend as much time acting responsibly as they do trying to skirt around security measures, they'd get a lot more work done.

Then again, the same supposidly tech-savvy students who sabotage school networks will probably grow up to be adult network saboteurs. We can only hope they get their comeupance. After all, these days, purposely disrupting a government or public network is a criminal offense in most jurisdictions.

Be well.