Pranks are super fun. Until people blow your harmless prank out to be some malicious attack and then put you in jail. Then pranks aren’t super fun.
Meet Domanik Green, your typical dopey 14-year-old just trying to have a little fun, but those meddling adults keep interfering. Two years ago, Green was a very astute student when he watched his teacher type in his password and memorized the keystrokes (The one time in history a student pays attention and this is what he does). However the teacher wasn’t some braniac either because the password was his last name.
On March 31, Green accessed the “secure” computer network at Paul R. Smith Middle School in Florida with the teacher’s password. The prankster changed the teacher’s desktop background photo to a photo of two men kissing. No arguing that this is a hilariously classic prank.
The teacher he was trying to annoy was out that day. Green would have gotten away with it too had it not been for a meddling substitute teacher who saw the picture and reported it to the school’s administration.
Green was arrested, charged with a felony cybercrime and also received a 10-day school suspension. All for posting a photo of two men in love. Ain’t that some shit.
Green told the Times that the gag was aimed at the teacher who he didn’t like:
So I logged out of that computer and logged into a different one and I logged into a teacher’s computer who I didn’t like and tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him.
Turns out that Green as well as other students had previously received a three-day suspension for “hacking” into the system inappropriately.
On Wednesday, Green was released from Land O’Lakes Detention Center into the custody of his mother. Domanik’s mother, Eileen Foster, said she understands her son did something wrong, but thought being arrested was a bit harsh.
“Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told the Tampa Bay Times.
WOAH! WOAH! WOAH! Cool your jets there Sheriff. We actually do know what the kid could have done because he already did it. He cheekily switched the screensaver to two dudes making out. He didn’t hack information and sell it to ISIS for $2,500. He didn’t even change his grades. This is no cyber-terrorist, this is just some kid with a fun lil prank.