Arizona School Employee Loses Job Searching for Aliens

This article is short. I do find a couple of interesting aspects to it though.

MESA, Arizona — A former school district employee is accused of using school computers in an experiment to find space aliens, costing the worker his job and the district more than $1 million.

So here's a school district's IT guy running a little renegade while supposedly working.

School officials say that Brad Niesluchowski, who was Higley Unified School District's information technology director, downloaded free software on district computers in 2000.

Seems harmless enough. The guy was doing his part by installing SETI on the school's computers. You know, for the greater good of mankind.

But Superintendent Denise Birdwell told the East Valley Tribune that the program also bogged down the district's system and interfered with technology use in classrooms.

Gee I never new SETI was such a memory hog. The program is sooo powerful it has effected the entire school district's system? hmmm

Birdwell said it will take more than $1 million to fix the problem, including removal of the SETI software. She says police are conducting a broader investigation.

OK Hold on a minute. A million bucks to repair systems and remove the SETI program? Heck I could remove SETI for $10 and a cup of coffee. Then we get to the "million bucks" to repair. Where in the world does that number come from. Are they buying all new computers and servers cause they offed their IT guy? Is he the only IT guy in the country able to restore these computers. Nah, something smells fishy to me.

Source: www.foxnews.com...

Thoughts?

Becker

haha fantastic.
I just like how out of proportion its been blown,
he should blatently take them to court for unfair dismissal,
with then proving how it does not cost $1mil to fix,
and then suing them for the lost time of earning and grief and also trying to
get money out of him for nothing

Utterly ridiculous. It does not cost 1 million dollars to remove a simple program like SETI.

The people requesting the one million dollars should be laughed at and slapped upside the head.

EDIT: On the other hand, they might be worried that the employee may have installed other more malicious programs such as a backdoor virus. That would mean they'd have to reset all their computers, but even then, one million dollars?! That seems way too high. Maybe someone with more knowledge of this field can comment.

Also, it sounds like they didn't have their computers secured right in the first place. If they'd had the proper security to begin with, then none of this would have become an issue. So this is still their fault for allowing it to happen. They shouldn't get a million dollars for this.

[edit on 3-12-2009 by ForAiur]

Damn, why dont they toss in a few child porn charges while their at it. A million dollars to fix a computer system ??? Come on now, maybe some of the money went to fixing the superintendant's " OnStar" in his new Mercedes.

If thats the case I used SETI on my work PC for a while, got bored and uninstalled ( have they heard of THAT function?), all the surfing I do when I get downtime , when I should be working I could refloat the worlds economy if my work went by THEIR standards of recompense.

You can tell it's a government run school when they shut down someone who thinks outside the box

Obviously it is a misuse of equipment, but geez, $1 million?!

If he wanted to join Seti@home, he should have done it at home on his own computer. Most schools have rules about uploading unauthorized software. At the very least he should have made the school aware of his intentions and let them give him the yea or nay.

I have done the Seti@home as well, so I am not saying it is a bad thing... I am simply saying that he should have notifies his employer as to what he was installing on their systems.

reply to post by IconoclasticTalamasca


I agree that is the sensible way to go about it.

What are your thoughts on the $1 million to fix the school's systems as a result of down loading SETI?

Becker

This news source is misleading... Not only did he load the software, but he also took school computers home for his own business and downloaded porn on several of the computers.
As discussed here on ATS
Here's a Source for you...


[edit on 12/3/2009 by x2Strongx]

reply to post by x2Strongx

Its my under standing that teachers (in the UK) are Given laptop computers for their personal and professional use, As they store private stuff on them, Like bank details addresses and contact numbers, Also they are responsible for maintenance and malware protection, (tax dodge ??)
Sounds like some IT wally "empire building"..... IMO



[edit on 3-12-2009 by foxhoundone]

Originally posted by Becker44
reply to post by IconoclasticTalamasca

 

I agree that is the sensible way to go about it.

What are your thoughts on the $1 million to fix the school's systems as a result of down loading SETI?

Becker

I think it is wwwaaayyy over-inflated, but I cannot say for sure until I see the numbers which I am sure will never happen.

Fire him, give him reasonable restitution, and be done with him.


EDIT: Just saw the link about the porn. This just got a little more interesting.

reply to post by IntastellaBurst


I agree Burst.

$1 million to "fix the problem" is absolutely absurd.

You could buy all new computers and have a new network set up for FAR less than that.

If i had to guess i'd say the school is being "paid off" and this guy "NEZ" is being set up.

we'll probably never know though . . .

[edit on 12/3/2009 by JPhish]

reply to post by Becker44


no, he lost his job for putting an un-authorized program on the school computers. it's that simple