I make this distinction because destruction of property could be an issue with a physical break-in (via the act of breaking in).
The teacher has had students over before, and unlocks his/her home by grabbing the key out of the fake rock sitting on the doorstep. The student uses that key and wrote something obscene with the fridge magnets.
It's not quite breaking and entering, but it's more than trespassing.
The offense is an abstraction that doesn't require physically damaging any security mechanism.
By your reasoning, picking a lock or guessing a combination couldn't be breaking in because you didn't literally break anything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_and_Entering#United_St...
In New York, the intent is not required. However, ironically with regard to this case, it is that way in Florida.
What reasoning? I said that "breaking and entering" can happen through an open window. My point was to modify the analogy so that the act of breaking & entering was "easy" and non-destructive bringing it closer to the level of severity in the situation that we are discussing.
Gaining access to someone's password has a much lower bar than something like picking a lock which requires a certain set of skills, and may imply a certain level of intent. The student didn't hookup a laptop to the school network and run metasploit.
Or, more likely, the teacher's briefcase.
Yes, using a computer feels a lot like going to an actual physical place. But we forget, it's a portable piece of property. It contains sensitive documents, but it's not breaking and entering.
> but it's not breaking and entering
Well, nobody said it is, including the prosecutors, who are charging the kid with some information-technology-specific crime (informally, "hacking"), and not "burglary".
It's called an analogy. "Breaking & Entering" is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of a situation where the act of someone gaining access to something is itself a crime. In this case, the student is being charged with "hacking" which according to the Federal law is gaining "unauthorized access" to a computer system.
What would be the crime committed in breaking into the teacher's briefcase? Theft during the duration of time that the student gain 'possession' of the briefcase to open it?