When I was in high school, I guessed the administrator password of our computer lab (it was the administrator's daughter's first name) and basically maintained the computer lab for the rest of the semester. I never did any harm in the process. The administrator, upon finding out what I had done, recognized that I knew what I was doing, and supported my work. I fixed permissions that repaired apps that had been mysteriously broken for years, reset other students' passwords at their request, and lots of other helpful things..
Then one day my teacher switched places with the only other person who had the admin password, and she didn't know about what I had been doing. When she found out that I had administrator access, she was infuriated. She called me a "hacker" and reported me to the principal. The principal planned to give me a 0 in the class and possibly expel me from school. The only people who were allowed to be in the "hearing" which decided my fate was the pissed off teacher and the principal. The administrator, who vouched for me, was told that no one asked for his opinion and that it wasn't relevant. I almost failed to graduate because of this, and it was only through being persistent and involving every teacher I knew that I managed to not fail (the principal reduced my grade to 75/100 instead of failing me).
I would tell your son that most adults who have authority (including principals, teachers, judges and police officers) do not understand technology and computers very well, and therefore it's important to not only operate within the scope of the law and rules of his school, but to also not even appear to operate outside those rules. Computers are cheap, and in 2009 there's not much more interesting in his school's network than what he can set up on a $200 netbook.
A long time ago my son did a similar thing. He didn't get into trouble because he told me first. We had a long adult talk about professionalism in programming. Essentially, professionals dont crack, but also about writing good code, testing, comments and such, so that it didn't come across as an adult smacking a kid. It worked, because he started taking a more mature approach to what he was doing.
To be fair, there are many professions in IT. Programming is just one of them. Computer security and system administration are two other very different ones. They don't necessary involve much "good code, testing, comments and such". On the contrary, they can involve in-depth, hands-on knowledge and experience of the kind of tools that other people will use, to be able to protect systems from them.
Thanks to everyone, I appreciate the participation so far. I asked this question so I could be better prepared in approaching him - so I haven't spoken to him and don't know any details beyond the fact that he is being brought into a meeting with the Principal for breaking into the system. I'll post more when I speak with him.
What worries me the most is that his parents and school are pretty much as described in some of these comments - scared of what they don't understand. I've spoken with the parents and done my best to let them know that this is bad, yes, but not something to be punished. This kid really has a gift. I can understand their concerns, however, when he (as a 13 year old) is so sure of his talent that he considers academics unimportant.
Now that I think of it, if there is any recommended reading for the PARENTS of budding hackers? If not, that might be a good idea for someone out there...
Spot on. And I sympathize with what you went through at school, times sure have changed. The overreaction to this sort of thing is something that never ceases to amaze me, anybody that is half decent with a computer gets looked at as some kind of force of evil.
I see this as a response to some kind of inner fear that there are kids out there that are more competent with this stuff than the adults. Invariably it's the clueless that start these witch-hunts.
When I was in elementary school around 4th , we always had to wait for the teachers/admins to come put there passwords in so we could log in. One day I just didn't want to wait. So I tried a simple password: The first letters of the schools name. Got on and did the work. The Administrator noticed she didn't have to put the password in and so later that night I got called from the school asking what I had done. I told them about it and what the password was. She was grateful since it was a password she hadn't known about, left by earlier Admins.
That was about five years ago. Today I am usually always at odds with the teachers. Either I can't sit still, I'm too quirky or snappy, or whatever the teachers want to make up. Then their computer acts up. Perfect opportunity. I go over and fix the simple problem and they now regard me as a demigod and no longer hate me.
That's how I fix my relationships with my teachers.
Then one day my teacher switched places with the only other person who had the admin password, and she didn't know about what I had been doing. When she found out that I had administrator access, she was infuriated. She called me a "hacker" and reported me to the principal. The principal planned to give me a 0 in the class and possibly expel me from school. The only people who were allowed to be in the "hearing" which decided my fate was the pissed off teacher and the principal. The administrator, who vouched for me, was told that no one asked for his opinion and that it wasn't relevant. I almost failed to graduate because of this, and it was only through being persistent and involving every teacher I knew that I managed to not fail (the principal reduced my grade to 75/100 instead of failing me).
I would tell your son that most adults who have authority (including principals, teachers, judges and police officers) do not understand technology and computers very well, and therefore it's important to not only operate within the scope of the law and rules of his school, but to also not even appear to operate outside those rules. Computers are cheap, and in 2009 there's not much more interesting in his school's network than what he can set up on a $200 netbook.