Doug Johnson

Mischief and Mayhem
Head for the Edge, December 1997


A very distraught high school teacher came to see me last week. It seems an anonymous someone had sent an e-mail message using Aaron’s return address. The message wasn’t very nice at all, and Aaron was insistent that the technology department (meaning me) find a way of keeping this from ever happening again. “A career could be ruined by such an incident,” he fumed.

While I could certainly understand why he was upset, I don’t believe I gave Aaron the answer he was looking for. No foolproof mechanical means of keeping people from sending e-mail under a borrowed or assumed name exists. Any e-mailer or web browser allows a user change the return address. Anonymous mail services are easy to find. Digital signatures are still on the horizon.

Network management systems let us keep track of who was using what computer to do what when. But when an incident of suspected misuse occurs, who has the time to check the logs of every networked computer in the building? We can’t even assume that the e-mail was sent from the school. It is as (or more) likely that the offending e-mail in Aaron’s name was sent from a private home, the local university, or the techno-coffee shop a few blocks away. Should we even automatically assume it was a student?

Sending an anonymous or misattributed e-mail is analogous to an obscene phone call or an unsigned note. Easier to do perhaps because there are no finger prints, no voice, and no handwriting left in the ether. But trying to remember that similar things happened before there were computers and networks is sometimes hard to do. Electronic communication is still largely strange to most of us, and human beings tend to be wary of strangers.

Aaron is a good teacher. He’s young, enthusiastic and likes to use technology with his kids. His character and reputation will keep him from being seriously considered as the sender of the bad e-mail. My sense is that we may all have this happen to us sooner or later. We can only hope our reputation carries us as well.

Misuse of technology is not uncommon in schools. No matter how diligent teachers and administrators try to be, students will work around the new password, print 500 copies of Miss April to the office computer, wantonly trash files or engage in electronic harassment. It is the 90’s version of tipping outhouses, stealing watermelons or putting the Volkswagen on the school roof. The problem is that we adults can’t identify with the electronic havoc from which our students now seem to get so much delight, since we ourselves have not committed it and most likely don’t understand how to do it.

It starts young too. Our middle school was having a bad time with its ceiling mounted televisions randomly turning on and off, switching channels, and gaining and losing volume. The sets worked in the shop, but back in the school building they acted up again. Until one day a teacher discovered a student with a special watch. It had a built in television remote. What a delightful sense of power that student must have felt for a few weeks!

Of course not all technology misuse is harmless. Electronic threats to the President have resulted in visits by the Secret Service to a number of schools. The potential for destroyed data is very real, as “crackers” gain a Robin Hood like status with some students. An obscene message, regardless of its method of delivery, can be traumatizing, and the thought of a computer that controls a dam’s flood gates being unofficially accessed is terrifying. Intentional or unintentional, the potential harm resulting in technological mayhem is quite real.

How can we as educators respond?

• If a student’s use of technology violates a school rule, deal with it as you would any incident. The consequence of sending a harassing e-mail should be the same as the consequence of sending a harassing paper note. Searching a disk should be treated no differently than searching a locker.
• Set up as few “challenges” to students who delight in getting around the system as possible. If a machine does not need a password, don’t give it one. Rely on human control and observation rather than mechanical controls.
• Teach netiquette at the same time you teach technology skills. Allow student input into technology policy making and planning.
• Give students ownership of the system. One of our technicians deliberately seeks out the school’s potential crackers and gives them responsibility for lab security. What’s the expression -  “It takes a thief…?”
• Don’t take an incident any more seriously than it really is. If we are truly giving students choices, we have to accept the fact that some students are going to make bad ones. But learning and growth result.

It is human nature to test a system, cause mischief, and subvert authority. But humans also live by rules, act for the common good, and respect the rights of others. Good cybercitizens can be developed if we as adults don’t blindly over react.