Harvard Business School has summarily rejected applicants who had taken an early peek at the School's decision on their candidacy. Some clever person with a strong understanding of web programming had recognized a basic flaw in the security system used by a third party company employed by Harvard and other business schools to handle applications. That person recognized that one could modify a URL to see the decision that Harvard had made on one's application (but not anyone else's application). (Here is the procedure.) That person had decided to share that knowledge with other applicants. A total of 119 people tried to see their decision early using this technique. Many of them saw a "Deny" while a few saw a blank screen.
"This behavior is unethical at best — a serious breach of trust that cannot be countered by rationalization," said Kim Clark, dean of Harvard Business School.
The School decided to rescind any favorable decision with respect to any of these candidates.
That seems an overreaction, at least given the facts that have been made public.
The problem is that those up in arms about this manipulation see it as comparable to breaking and entering the admissions office. But that seems an inapt metaphor. Entering the admissions office would give one access not only to your complete file--including confidential recommendations and other assessments--but also the files of other people. The procedure employed here only gave people an early look at the final decision. It did not change that decision, nor did it give people access to any information that would not be shared with them shortly.
Another difference between real world breaking and entering is that there is the risk of bodily injury--to the intruder or other people--in the real world breaking and entering case. Here there was no such danger.
Like all people, the Harvard 119 were anxious to know the result and simply took an early peek at the decision. The anxiety might be prompted by a need to find a job for a significant other in the Boston area, for example.
One issue is why Harvard waits to let them know till a particular date. Is it because the decision is yet preliminary--subject to review based on how the class is shaping up? If so, then the early peek may give an erroneous result--but that would be at the risk of the early peeker.
Another question is whether an early peek gives that student an unfair advantage over others who "played by the rules." It's hard for me to see how the student gains an advantage, but if he or she does, then I can understand the blanket rejection.
The case reminds one that one has to be very careful with applying any real space metaphor to cyberspace. This is not a standard case of breaking and entering.