Another part of my objection is how things here in the US are being blown out of proportion simply to make an arresting officer, or prosecutor look good. This being a prime example. This has become somewhat of a trend over the years.

Yet another part, is the “Zero Tolerance” BS that’s plagued US schools for a while, causing silly incidents to have severe punishment, but severe incidents still get ignored (it’s about public relations more than anything).

Then there’s the issue of liability. If this is worth “tremendous” damage, imagine what slashdot is liable for (remember the slashdot effect is well known, and allowing harm is illegal and makes you liable).

There are so many things wrong with this.

While that kid was arrested, there was likely someone else in that juristiction being assaulted or harassed by bullies… of course no arrests happen for that. That’s only a threat of bodily harm. Not a crashed computer.

This is partially a “society sucks” type post, so I can see why someone from abroad may not have made all those connections as problems in the US don’t always mirror that of overseas society (a big reason why TV sitcoms that touch upon social issues tend to not do good trans-atlantic).

And that’s the difference between Slashdot and him. If Slashdot links to you, they don’t do it to bring down your site – that’s not their intent. His intent was to crash the server.