You are implying by your response that these students aren't using the technology to communicate the classroom topic. Rather than having to "hide" under their desks, the typically high school or middle school students using SMS should be *encouraged* to learn the proper uses of new technology.

Of course, with our crippled public school system (another topic entirely), kicking out kids who fail is difficult or impossible.

I would put some responsibility on these 10+ year old kids - pay attention or you might get the boot. If SMS helps you stay on-topic and enhance the conversation with your fellow students, that should be encouraged.

People in the business world multi-task meetings via email and SMS frequently, and there is no reason that high school kids can't be brought into the modern era.

In the case of a local or regional e-commerce website, for instance, the company offering the e-commerce is more well-known and trusted by their customer base than any 3rd party entity could or would ever be.

I would argue that these companies should be able to self-sign their certs without a big RED screen or a warning in the browser.

Some Hong Kong post office is surely no more credible and authoritative than the regional chain of stores wishing to sell their wares to customers online.

I believe browsers should have an easy way of determining when and how the certs were created. An IP address stamp would be as much of a seal of authenticity as anything from Thawte, Verisign or GeoTrust.

Almost everyone in our region knows our company, for instance, but they have no clue what the heck Verisign does.