Convicted for "Opposition to Authority"

[kshcshbash]

So my school installed a new firewall system.
I wrote a proxy to work around it in PHP. I wasn't actually breaking any rules by doing so. I hosted this at my webserver.

The school specifically granted the Board administrator local admin rights, so next time I worked on the script at school, I was technically opposing the Board.

They are talking of suspended me, and all my data on the school's servers has been deleted. That includes two websites, my ISU project, and some designs for a game engine.

Deleted. Gone. I'm not allowed them back.

So they pretty much used a loophole in the rules to catch me out.
Anyone got any ideas for me? This isn't looking good right now...

[drak10687]

well, I guess you should ask yourself why they would want to use that loophole in the first place... I am pretty sure they are not just doing it for fun or because they like to harass students, or whatever... with that in mind, you should go and talk to anyone and everyone in charge, especially those that you think will understand your point of view better... but don't come off as arrogant.

(from your story, I'm not exactly sure what happened. Did you write a proxy to be able to access the servers from outside the school, or to have access from to the outside from inside the school servers? I'm not too techno-savy as far as this stuff goes)

Also, did they delete DELETE your files, or just took away your access to them? That sucks if they really deleted them, but I guess you should always back up your stuff...

[King Edward I]

I am sure you have some backups somewhere, I know at work there are a few power hungry people that are just a bit stuck up, fort example they took away someones internet for a month for going on their email in work time :o. to cut a long story short they complained to the boss and got the thing revoked.

The school will have copies backed up, is there anything you need for upcoming exams?, is so threaten legal action against them and chances are you will get your work back (beware if you do go through with legal action I would not advise saying in that school).

[Aristocrat]

I'd be tempted to crash their systems but then you would be in real trouble.

Just find an ally in the school staff and ask them to plead your case.

[Erik]

I think this is a case where 1337 social skillz are more important than computer skillz.

I think the best thing you can do is explain that you didn't know that what you did was against the rules, and then apologize for any wrongdoing (even if you still think you didn't do anything wrong, it's still better to apologize).

Like Dark and King Edward said: your school will almost certainly keep backups.
If you ask nicely I think they will be willing to give you your data back, at least your websites, game source, and school work.

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

As Aristocrat says, look for allies, be honest as to why you were doing what you were doing (unless of course you were doing it for illegal reasons, in which case you may have to invent a plausible reason, and stick to it).

You'll probably find the school got hacked a while back, or another local school did, and they are therefore totally paranoid at the moment.....

[kshcshbash]

So I just got back from the worst thirty minutes of my life.
They had planned to call the police and have me arrested, charged and deported tomorrow. (ANY police involvement nullifies my visa). They didn't plan to tell me until tomorrow.
If I didn't have my mum call them to check up on things, I wouldn't have known.

My mother and I did some hard negotiating. We got it down to a five day suspension (home). I'm not allowed my data back. If I get caught uploading _anything_ to the webserver at school, or I mention the school on it, i lose my deal.

Better than deportation...

[Erik]

They had planned to call the police and have me arrested, charged and deported tomorrow. (ANY police involvement nullifies my visa). They didn't plan to tell me until tomorrow.

WTF??? They would have you deported because you circumvented their firewall?
What kind of people are they?

Either:
-You haven't told us everything you did. (why exactly did you circumvent that firewall, it wasn't to send spam or illegal content, was it?)
-They are complete nerds, and couldn't handle the fact that somebody out-smarted them, so they respond in the lamest way possible.
-They are racists, or have something against you personally, and just use this to get rid of you.

[lord_eru]

This doesn't sound very good at all

I don't know if this might help, but try to get in touch with the ACLU (I'm assuming you're in the US)

Good luck in case

[Erich von Manstein]

Wow, I've never been in the basement before...

Ok, if you're in the US, contact a lawyer. Most lawyers in the US allow for a free consultation. Tell him everything. Worst case scenario, he'll tell you that you're out of luck. Best case scenario, he'll tell you what your options are. You have nothing to lose. Find out what they were going to charge you with. If they won't tell you then something fishy is going on. If they will tell you, that will give you some clue as to what you did wrong. I have a hard time imagining that circumventing your school's firewall is an contravention of any local, state or federal statute. They wouldn't call the police unless they strongly felt that you broke some sort of statute, after all.

[Il Duce]

How could the school have you "deported"?

[drak10687]

yeah... its seems that either we don't know all of your story, or you don't know all of theirs, because most people are reasonable enough to understand that deportation is a very serious thing... of course, I totally understand your position (especially if you are in the US), having traveled to and lived in the US, and being an immigrant of Canada, and that atm it is very hard for any immigrant to argue about anything with the authorities, and that you should be very cautious as often the government officials seemingly have unlimited freedom over their decisions because its hard to find any sort of real information anywhere, and if you ever do, its often not very consistent with other sources, or with what actually happens at the border/airport/etc... So unless you have some serious legal power backing you, you have to be careful in any sort of confrontation, unless you don't care about being deported.

[kshcshbash]

I thought I said, I'm only here on my Mum's work permit (We're in Canada. It's up for renewal in...six days.)

If I have _any_ police involvement we automatically get disqualified for landed immigrant status.

The principal's a *****. She showed me the paperwork she'd already filled out :-/

My mum called a Corporate Lawyer buddy of hers, the school gets to hide behind some legal crap that was originally to stop people circumventing Corporate level firewalls. It's ****ing ********, but they're using it.

It's less the proxy, more a "serious breach of security".
I wasn't breaking _anything_ in the school IT policy. They admitted that.

[Incinerate_IV]

Wow your principal is a dick, sorry about your situation.

Either:
-You haven't told us everything you did. (why exactly did you circumvent that firewall, it wasn't to send spam or illegal content, was it?)
-They are complete nerds, and couldn't handle the fact that somebody out-smarted them, so they respond in the lamest way possible.
-They are racists, or have something against you personally, and just use this to get rid of you.

Agree with that 100%

[Hells Bells]

thats what you get for living in canada. In america if your an immigrant you have all sorts of groups that will fight till dinner for your sake. Also being a minority helps, if they tried anything like this id call asian americans united and do all sorts of things to really really embarrass the **** out of my school.
Also your story sounds like alot of us, only horribly horribly wrong. Me n my buds sometimes try to get past the fwall, its ez just load up ffox. We also tried getting linux to work, cant do **** with those crappy school macs.

I thought I said, I'm only here on my Mum's work permit (We're in Canada. It's up for renewal in...six days.)

If I have _any_ police involvement we automatically get disqualified for landed immigrant status.

Those bastards, they are discriminating against you by threatening deportation if you take legal action. They cannot do that!! All the century of campaigning for immigrants rights down the drain, Canada is a police state afaik.

Post a video on youtube, contact the media, heads must roll!

[Erik]

Those bastards, they are discriminating against you by threatening deportation if you take legal action. They cannot do that!! All the century of campaigning for immigrants rights down the drain, Canada is a police state afaik.

No, Canada just doesn't tolerate criminal behavior from immigrants.
And that's entirely reasonable IMO, they are Canada's guests afterall.
But maybe they should relax their rules a little to not include such small offenses because everybody can make a mistake and break the law without even realizing it.

It's the school, not the Canadian government who are overreacting here.

[drak10687]

afaik, immigrants have a way more harder time in the US atm than in Canada... When I was flying through Huston, from Mexico to Montreal, I was stopped, because I did not have a visa, and had to pay about $300 USD for a waiver (even though my dad flew to the US twice a couple of months ago with just his Canadian permanent residence card, which is what I had, but in the US embassy, they said he just got lucky..????) But the point is, that while I was t here, two guys were detained, and waiting to fill out paper work for like 9hrs, because they had a DUI 30 years ago, even though they have had their green card for over 30 years... because your are not supposed to be a menace to society, or you risk loosing your green card. However, they had no problems 4 years ago flying through airports. I understand that rules are rules, but c'mon, a DUI 30 years ago???... also, they were going to have to face a judge, who would decide if they could retain their green card or not...

Having lived in the US, and now in Canada, it is easier for immigrants in Canada atm, however, overall, its quite difficult in both countries....

[kshcshbash]

I'm not going to fight it.
I got a five day suspension
= five day vacation!

Yay me. I can't put my family on the line for this.


MY MOTHERFRIGGIN USER ACCOUNT GOT DE****INGLETED
This is insane. I had so much source code on there. Well, not LOADS but still a fair amount.

[King Edward I]

backups?

I would guess its more jealousy than actual wrong doing, a staff member knows you can outsmart the school so wants to get rid of you before you make him look bad, and I second the motion your principal is a dick. (You could always make an insulting website about her when you leave)

[gg_wong]

what province do u live in?? im guessing 1 of the inner provinces...
anyway
sux that it happend to u