[Public] Journal Entry: Jake Jensen

[om_backlash]

We have something to tell everyone and we're sorry for not saying it until now. Jensen found out by accident a while ago and would have told you all sooner, but Tessa bought his silence with blackmail. There is no other way to put it.

Up until she left the school, Tessa had been monitoring all of the students. Every email and IM, every Google search, every saved document… You name it; she’s probably been reading it.

This might not matter to some of you. Maybe you already knew, or maybe you’re glad someone was watching. And that’s fine. But, it matters to us. We know Tessa meant well. We know she had good reasons for doing it, but, to us, that doesn’t make it any less of an invasion of privacy. Or a betrayal of the students’ trust. There was no discussion or agreement about monitoring the students. She wasn’t elected to this position. She just took it upon herself to do it.

We're not telling everyone this because we want them to pick up their pitchforks and go all angry mob on Tessa. We get why she monitored the students. We don’t agree with how she went about doing it, but we totally get it. The world we live in is dangerous and we need to be careful. The reason we're telling everyone is just because we feel like they deserve to know. That’s all.

In that same spirit, you should all know that Barbara, who is now in charge of the school's e-security, is not taking the same measures.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. We’ll try to answer any questions if you have any.

- Jensen and Simon B.

Comments

[om_ghost]

I really thought everyone knew that Tessa was watching everything. As far as I know, she only did anything about it to protect people.

I find it hard to believe that Tessa actually blackmailed anyone? Or at least I can't imagine she intended it that way.

[om_backlash]

Like we said, we understand why she did it and we know she meant well, but that still doesn't make it okay.

It was blackmail. There's no other word for it. No matter what the intent behind it was or however it might be justified, her actions qualify as blackmail.

[om_ghost]

Since she isn't here to defend herself, Here is what I'm going to say:

Tessa's attention to the network and her computer skills protected me, specifically, from something really dangerous. She didn't have to do that, and I'm glad she did. She kept me safe when I wouldn't have known I was in danger, and I wouldn't have known how to keep myself safe. Maybe that's not okay to you, but it's more than okay to me, and I'd be in a much worse situation if she hadn't.

[om_chroma]

It's more than okay to us, too, that she has helped people thanks to her skills and her monitoring. That she has helped you, and that you were safer for it. What is a lot less than okay to us is the secrecy and the blackmail. We just think that everybody has a right to know what she was doing, since it is about their privacy.

[om_vector]

We have new people all the time. There's no way everyone could know unless she publicly stated it or contacted everyone personally.

And she did blackmail. I have spoken with her personally about it last year when it happened. She also knows they're posting this.

I'm not trying to be harsh- I don't personally care for her, she fucked with someone I care about, and that's an automatic black mark for me. However, I do think Tessa is a generally good person, and had good reasons for doing it, but it doesn't erase how she did it.

[om_ghost]

The fact remains that you're present your/Jensen's/Simon's version of.. some set events, whilst there is another side (Tessa's and maybe mine) that isn't being told. Our fellow students deserve to know that, too, is my point.

I don't particularly care how the three of you see the situation -- I shouldn't dream of telling anyone else how to think -- I'm only concerned regarding the one-sided portrayal.

[om_vector]

So go talk to her. No one is saying she's not welcome to air her side. It's not live she's banned from the conversation. We're already all aware that if she wanted to make her side of the situation known, or hell, even block this post, no one could stop her.

Like I said- I'm not arguing she didn't do some good shit. She's helped me with shit before on multiple occasions, and I respect her. But she hurt my friend in a serious fucking way rather than let people know that they were being watched.

[om_shadowcat]

Actually, um. I heard that some students that have left the school or been kicked out or whatever aren't allowed access to the journals (you know, new security measures and all that via Barbara). Not that I condone blackmail or anything. Cause yeah. I don't.

[om_vector]

Pretty sure she's not allowed to spy on everyone either, but she managed that.