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iPhone autocorrect error puts two schools on lockdown

Mar 1, 2012, 23:11 GMT

San Francisco - Maybe the smartphone is getting too smart for our own good.

The autocorrect feature on a teenager's iPhone caused the lockdown of two schools in the US state of Georgia Wednesday after automatically changing a teenagers' text message to give the impression that a dangerous gunman was on the prowl.

According to the Gainesville Times, an unidentified student had meant to send a message reading 'gunna be at west hall today' using a slang version of the words 'going to.'

However, the autocorrect feature on the iPhone didn't recognize the shortened version and automatically corrected the message to read 'gunman be at west hall today.'

Further complicating the issue was the fact that the teenager sent the message to the wrong number, amid a heightened alert just days after a high schooler killed three students at an Ohio school.

The unintended recipient forwarded the apparent threat to police who promptly placed the West Hall middle and High Schools in the city of Gainesville on lockdown, the report said.

'It was a combination of odd circumstances,' Sergeant Stephen Wilbanks, a sheriff's spokesman said. 'We want to emphasize that the recipient did the right thing in reporting the message.'

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