Won't be active for a while

I am posting this to notify you all that I will not be active for a while on these forums because I do not have any computers anymore except the one in the living room that my family uses.

The reason for this is because I got in a bit of legal trouble. I hacked my schools admin password. At the time I didn't think I would get into too much trouble, but I was wrong. Since I have a clean record and my intentions were not malicous I got off with only a misdemeanor, but the cops had to take my computers to further investigate.

This really sucks since I am stuck with a crappy Dell right now and Oblivion is coming out this month. :(

Nasty stuff.
My mind has been changed about hacking my schools system.

Drew, sorry to hear that, but there is always a flipside to everything. It's always tempting to mingle with school systems. (I've dipped my hand into the cookie jar once too, a friend and I wanted to see if we could do it back in the mid-90's, it worked but we didn't change anything. I scraped by with a low C average.)

If you're a minor, your records might be sealed upon turning 18, depending on what state you live in, so the misdemeanor won't really matter all that much if that's the case. The only really bad one is a Felony, those will definetly stay with you until you die (unless a judge orders your record purged, which almost NEVER happens.)

You'll be ok, they won't find much on your computers (unless you have something that shouldn't be there), they'll give you your systems back and that will be that.

Take it easy and try not to worry about it too much.

That sucks. Hope you get your computers back soon. :(

Last edited by KoolDrew on Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

ChrisMG, I live NY and I'm 16. I don't have anything on my computers related to my school, however, I do have quite a few movies and stuff that I've downloaded. The cop that brought me to my house to pick up my computer basically said my computer would sit there unlil they get a call from my school saying that I transfeed stuff. Then I guess if my school finds nothing then eventually I get my systems back. I don't know if this is how it really goes, it's just what the cop told me. The cop also told me they don't care about copyright enfrigment. That they will only be looking for stuff related to my school. I'm not exactly sure if I should belive that or not. So, if what the cop said is true, since I didn't transfer anything important from the school to my computer, it will just site there and I'll get it back eventually.

Also, isn't there laws against taking a student out of his school without notifying their parents? Because my mom was never notified while I was at the police station and I was never asked if I wanted to call until we were actually coming back to my house (like 4 hours later). My mom was really worried because of this. Out looking for me and everything. While at the school the cop actually told my principle not to call. I was at my locker getting my jacket while this happened. I thought my principle called my mom during that time.

Yes, there is a law about officers detaining minors without contacting parents and without parental consent. I think you need to look into this.

Last edited by ChrisMG on Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

Usually there is.  The best thing I can advise you to do is look up New York's Criminal Statute laws regarding minors.

You should be able to find the answer there.  If NY law says that they have to contact your legal parent/guardian and they didn't, then your parents could probably file a tort against the city/county for it.

Dealing with minors is always, ALWAYS a shaky issue.

Make absolutely SURE that you know what the law is though before you do anything.  Oh, and the reason they told you that about your computers is because they want to look for anything dealing with this particular crime.  If they find something else however, I'm sure they could ask the Prosecutor to file separate charges regarding infringement, but those are lengthy and mosty end up in Civil action suits.

All depends on New York's laws.

dont they need a warrant to take computers.

Man is there anything the government cant do sigh....

Yes, usually they'll need some kind of warrant to seize personal effects.

But the easy part is, and I've done this before, is to just call a judge at home, explain to him/her your Probable Cause, grab your warrant, have him sign it and you're done.

They might have done something along those lines.

Last edited by krazykaveman on Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hmm thats a little harsh though dont you think taking the computers like that its not like he's a crazed maniac trying to shut down the internet.

you also said

Drew, sorry to hear that, but there is always a flipside to everything. It's always tempting to mingle with school systems. (I've dipped my hand into the cookie jar once too, a friend and I wanted to see if we could do it back in the mid-90's, it worked but we didn't change anything. I scraped by with a low C average.)

what if when you did that the police came and took all your computers?
that as sure as hell would make me mad for something that small.

I had a couple of friends who did that once, though, they didn't get caught. I'm too much of a 3D animator to have even dared to do stuff like that. I hope it all turns out well.

...and LOVE the Dell. LOVE IT.

-Pikl

Ouch I hope you get your computer back. I also hope the cops to not fin anything, my advice is when you get back computer just change all paswords for everything, and watch for anty bugs as maybe the cops want to track you. I am not saying to do anything bad, just if you want to be like safe and you do not want track your every move.

Last edited by ChrisMG on Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:15 pm; edited 1 time in total

Changing passwords wouldn't do a thing.

Most real agencies have computer forensic experts that can basically crack any password (either by brute force or by some other means). Most importantly, if they don't want to go through the trouble, they can just subpoena you to tell them the password and if you don't, they'll throw another charge at you.

Likewise, in most instances, formatting your platters wouldn't do much good either as most *real* agencies have government only software that will recover just about everything on a formatted platter (yes, even a low level format). I know that I had to use something similiar in the Military when I handled secure classified information. (I was a communications specialist with a T-Secret clearance)