<p>Chedva:
Yes, back then it was called stealing. And it still is. But, had you read my post earlier, you would see that rocketman08 was wrong. The policy of charging for ACT scores was abolished a while ago. They are now free.</p>
<p>fauve:
Again, you assume I am a student. Who's to say I'm not twice your age and am senile, probably on my way out?
And, learn to spell my user name correctly. I at least extended that courtesy to you.</p>
<p>Watch this.</p>
<p>OH NO, HAACCK!! HAAAAAACK!!!</p>
<p>That link wasn't visible to me, but I found it. This is the exact same situation as with the ACT link. Neither this, nor accessing ACT scores is illegal.</p>
<p>Any parents wish to tell me how illegal my actions just were? I bet the administrators here would gladly tell you that no websites were harmed in the making of this post.</p>
<p>Why are ethics questionable here?
Why is this cheating?</p>
<p>And, once again, you are speaking about something of which you have no knowledge.</p>
<p>This glitch requires your STUDENT ID and ACCOUNT PASSWORD, as if you were logging in normally. Therefore, in order to view someone else's info, you would need their STUDENT ID and their ACCOUNT PASSWORD.</p>
<p>If you have that information, you can view their scores the "normal" way also.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Gee, back in the dark ages when I was young (and later in law school), getting access to something without paying the money for it was called theft.
[/quote]
It seems like the ACT no longer tries to con people with the 'early peek' scam. However, even if they tried to sell that feature this still wouldn't be theft. </p>
<p>Their website is made available for free to the general public and can be accessed for free by anyone with a computer. If they then try to sell you a service that allows you to view a certain portion of this website for a fee (but it turns out that they screwed up and you can view this portion of the website for free without buying that additional service) then it's the company's screw up and that's it. Nothing illegal has occurred.</p>
<p>A legal analogy to this would be region encoding on movie DVD players. Most DVD players have a 'hack' that allows you to play DVDs from any region (not just the US region). However the 'hack' doesn't manipulate the machine at all and generally simply involves pushing a few keys in order on the remote control. The company provided the equipment to customers with this capability as part of the equipment to access information that on first pass could not be accessed (e.g. a European DVD)... however because this was how the equipment was provided to the customer, and the customer did not illegally manipulated it in any way (it was programmed to have that encryption bypass as part of the chips) then it's all legit. On the surface it would seem that you have to buy an additional DVD player to watch DVDs from other regions... but the company (or more likely sneaky engineers within) sold their product with a way to achieve that without paying extra money. I imagine the top executives at Acme DVD company wouldn't approve, but since that's how they provided the product then they're stuck with it as is.</p>
<p>Similarly like the ACT provided their service (e.g. their website) in a state that allows one to access the information in question without any illegal manipulations of their servers. If they don't want that to happen then they should employ some competent IT folks that know how to use a web server, but they really don't have grounds to get upset at anyone that simply used the public service as they (the ACT) posted it on the internet.</p>
<p>tomDadon: So sorry to have read your tone as that of a cranky student, and to have made a typo! </p>
<p>Best wishes to all on the apparent good news that ACT is happy with the early hacks (kids' term, not my legal definition).</p>
<p>Just remember the HBS story when it comes time for grad apps!</p>
<p>Goodkarma, you must not realize that this "link" is not new. ACT has been informed of the link several times, but why have they done nothing about it? Because there is nothing wrong with it.</p>
<p>For your information, it is not a glitch, hack, back-door, side-door, cheat, or anything related.</p>
<p>The link used to view scores early is the same link to view scores after they are officially "released." There is nothing special about that link. It is not any of the terms I listed above. No one receives an advantage by using the URL. It's as if I tell you that this is thread #527630, and you click "Post Reply" in another thread and change the thread id in the URL to 527630. Is that a hack? I'm going to contact Jelsoft Enterprises and let them know that people are using their discussion software maliciously. You better watch out.</p>
<p>Alright, fauve. You claimed that your job was to send out a warning?</p>
<p>You sent out a warning. Your mission is over. Everyone is now informed (including the ACT).</p>
<p>This discussion should do the same as your mission and end.</p>
<p>the epitome of ignorance. </p>
<p>these kids are justifying their behavior because parents like you are accusing them of "cheating". this is not cheating. this is not stealing. no one is better off because of accessing their score 2 days early. also, these kids didn't go out of their ways to find their score. ACT basically handed their scores to them on a silver platter. this is not even an ethical issue. there is no right or wrong. the right think to do is to let ACT to know there is a problem with their site, but not accuse the kids of cheating. </p>
<p>if you want an award for what you did you're not getting one.</p>
<p>I think a lot of you parents who are getting so worked up must have a limited knowledge of the internet. Hockey07 made a good point using this website - there are links that aren't visible, but they're still there. If I'm able to visit a link, log in to my account, and see my scores, there is no legal or ethical problem there. I'm not seeing my scores before they're posted, I'm seeing them before ACT makes the information visible. How is there anything ethically wrong with wanting to see your scores as soon as possible? Many of us have spent the last week feeling anxious and worried about our scores - especially the mom who's daughter experienced an anxiety attack because of the pressure. With schools and parents putting pressure on us to succeed, it's nice to be able to see where we stand as soon as we can.</p>
<p>The point here is, this link exists, and there is no excuse for ACT being unaware of that fact - the glitch has been around, to my knowledge, since at least December. If the ACT decides that students shouldn't be able to see scores before a certain date, I would imagine that their tech team is capable of making that information inaccessible. It's unfortunate that you see it as your duty to make sure students have to wait as long as possible for their scores, but really, ACT would have no grounds on which to justify punishing students who checked their scores. I doubt the two sides will ever reach an understanding on this, so you can just continue to draw out the agonizing wait for your children, and the rest of us can continue to see our scores ahead of time until ACT chooses to remove the link.</p>
<p>so you're saying that if one of these kids called and told them everything and they WERE punished for what they did that that DETERMINES if the students behavior was ethical or not. </p>
<p>HA HA HA HA</p>
<p>Most of us won't call because we want the link to continue to be available for future ACT's...</p>
<p>EDIT: And I agree with ack27 on this. The ACT company isn't the determiner of what is ethical. It would be unethical to hack the ACT computer system and change your scores. On the other hand, I see nothing wrong with typing a link into my browser and signing in.</p>
<p>They do scheduled maintenance often; it means they're uploading another bunch of scores.</p>
<p>AP exam scores. you can call and get your score on July 1st. however, one can call usually 4 days before July 1st and get scores. 4 DAYS EARLY OMG. is there something ethically wrong with that too?? please.</p>
<p>The lack of technical understanding by some people on this forum does seem to be contributing to their thinking that the actions in question represent some sort of inappropriate manipulation of the ACT website. </p>
<p>Here is a 'hack' that does the exact same thing.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Go to [url=<a href="http://www.google.com%5DGoogle%5B/url">http://www.google.com]Google[/url</a>]</p></li>
<li><p>Search for 'hack' and hit enter</p></li>
<li><p>Look at the page that you got as a result</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Now open up a new browser window</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Go to [url=<a href="http://www.google.com%5DGoogle%5B/url">http://www.google.com]Google[/url</a>]</p></li>
<li><p>up in the address bar add the bit in parenthesis directly after [url=<a href="http://www.google.com%5DGoogle%5B/url">http://www.google.com]Google[/url</a>] (/search?hl=en&q=hack&btnG=Google+Search)</p></li>
<li><p>Hit enter and vuala there you are at the same page again... and you managed to get there without entering any text or clicking on any link. </p></li>
<li><p>Is this a hack? No... it's how the internet works. You can enter terms into the URL bar as a shortcut to get places without having to navigate through forms and webpages. Does google care that you've just 'hacked' their website to access information that wasn't linked directly from their front page? No of course not... if they didn't want you to use their server to issue such a command then they wouldn't let you do what I just showed you.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The 'hack' with the ACT website is exactly the same thing. Anyone doing that is simply using the internet and commands on a web server as they're programmed to be used by anyone that cares to use it. If the ACT doesn't want their website to be accessed in such a fashion then it's up to them to change it... but if that's how they've provided it then you can't get upset at someone who uses it as it was provided.</p>
<p>goodkarma09, they do this the day before they upload scores.</p>
<p>EVERYTIME.</p>
<p>Stop trying to scare everyone and just stop. You did everything you thought you had to, including notifying the ACT and making a fool of yourself in front of everyone here.</p>
<p>Now please stop.</p>
<p>highhopes: The ACT company can indeed determine what it thinks is ethical, they can do anything they want. </p>
<p>tomdadon: on the ACT Prep forum you wrote "Mine still aren't up" referring to your (or your student's) ACT scores. That is why the assumption was made that you are a student.</p>
<p>Your suggestion that this thread end is duly noted, however you will soon learn, after a bit more time on CC, that we posters are delightfully happy to debate the issues ad infitum (please check my spelling.)</p>
<p>I know the ACT can determine what they think is ethical. Anyone can make up any moral boundaries for what they think constitutes correct behavior. The ACT isn't going to do anything to punish students who visited a link which is accessible on their website. It has been emphasized many times that typing a link into one's browser does not constitute "hacking" a website.</p>
<p>A few years ago some students were able to log on to their student account with Cornell and access their admissions decision in a similar way. Cornell was made aware of it and essentially shrugged and said, oops, I guess we created a glitch. They shut down the glitch and didn't take action against the students that accessed the information early. They realized they were the ones that allowed it to happen. End of story. </p>
<p>the ACT cannot determine what is ethical or not. what are ethics? and what makes the ACT suitable to determine what is ethical or not? ACT can determine if actions were legal, illegal, or broke contract terms. and you know what .. everything about this 'hack' is legal.</p>
<p>fauve:</p>
<p>No problem. And I believe that "my" side of the argument was debated much better (not just by me, but also by anyone who realizes how futile this whole thing is).</p>