If you are referring about the consequences that IT workers could face when taking away or breaking into someone else's lent or loaned computer, then the consequences could be quite harsh.

First, an IT worker is known for having the tools to access someone else's equipment, where a lot of privileged information is kept. By privileged information, we mean "private". Anything that is kept private by a person is not to be accessed under any circumstance by anyone else, as it is stated in the underlying moral codes that exist in our Bill of Rights and our Constitution.

Second, the only way anyone in IT is allowed to access people's private information in computers is with an order that warrants that the investigation is in place, legal, and should proceed.

Third, should an IT worker still crack into the private information of another citizen, the citizen has every right to not only sue the IT worker, but also to have the employer of the IT worker revoke his IT rights and permissions, and advise other employers to refuse employment to the hacking individual.

In a world in which codes and encryptions are now the norm, special care has to be placed in regulating the rights of those who have the power to decipher them.

As far as high school IT students, their access to information and the way that they can obtain it might result in a lot of temptation on their part to try and get to it. However, the consequences are quite harsh. Most school district maintain a very strong policy against sharing passwords, hacking accounts, accessing other people's e-mail inboxes, and/or spreading hate mail via blogs and such. Consequences include termination of Internet access, suspension, removal of computer equipment such as laptops, locking their school accounts, detention, limitations of Internet access and even expulsion if the actions were meant maliciously and breaking every code of Netiquette for which the students are supposed to sign to comply.