STUDENT REMOVED FOR VIRTUALIZING SCHOOL GROUNDS

So, this kid, he's a bit of a software/video game geek, right? And he's thinking it would be cool to re-create his high school in a virtual world.

What do you want? He's a nerd! I think this way, too. Only I think it would be cool to squeeze a PC into my toy R2-D2. Anyway...

So, this kid uploads a digital version of his campus and let's people explore it online. Let me let [http://www.joystiq.com/2007/05/02/student-arrested-for-making-a-map-of-his-school/|a May 2, 2007 post] at Joystiq.com explain the rest:

A Chinese student was removed from Clements High School in Fort Bend, Texas after parents complained he had re-created the school grounds in a game and uploaded the map for his friends to play. The boy was placed in the district's alternate education school and later arrested, as the police considered him a "terroristic threat".

The post goes on to explain that while no charges will be filed the kid won't be able to attend his ! graduation.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention before the excerpt that he's a Chinese student. I have no idea why that is relevent. The point is, he was assumed a criminal, a "terroristic" person, just because he translated his school campus into ones and zeroes.

Can someone PLEASE tell me how this could be viewed as a "terroristic" threat?

Did they think he would do a virtual dry run of a VT-style massacre inside the cyber-school? What's to stop EVERY student from using the real school to do the same?

This is just a classic case of people letting their fears get the better of them.

It is this kind of moronic behavior on the part of the "concerned" parents and school officials that is exactly what FDR warned us against when he said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Come on, folks. Grow up and smell the fact that you are SERIOUSLY more likely to die in your car today than you are to be killed in a high school massacre.

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