Alarm over Ahmed Mohamed's clock reveals tinkering tension

14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed is something of a tinkerer.  He built the clock himself, and brought it to school to show his teachers. But when they looked at the metal briefcase with an LED display, they didn't see a clock... They saw a bomb.

Police were called in, and Ahmed was arrested. 
It didn't take long for the story to explode online. And soon Ahmed was receiving messages of support from the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even  U.S. President Barack Obama. 

It's a story that's struck a special chord with the science and technology community... and those who believe in the right to tinker, a right some fear is under threat in our security-obsessed world.
 

A panel of guests joined us to talk about the "right to tinker":

• Lindy Wilkins is a community technologist and the co-founder of Make Friends, a monthly meet-up of makers and community organizers in Toronto. 
• Alexandra Samuel is an independent technology researcher and strategist in Vancouver.
• Andrew Appel is a professor of computer science at Princeton University and a blogger at Princeton's Freedom to Tinker blog.  
   

Do you think that tinkerers and inventors are supported in school?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Shannon Higgins, Gord Wesmacott and Julian Uzielli.