It’s here.

Motivation is everything. You can hack documents from a school just because you want to see if you’re good enough to crack the code. A lot of computer nuts fall into this competitive category.

You can do it to tweak your own grades, maybe to create a fraudulent resume.

You can do it for simple vandalism, like breaking the Dean’s window with a rock, or to blackmail some other student.

White hats, gray hats, black hats. Some hackers have more than one color in their closet.

…and I know nothing zip nada.

I might enjoy walking undetected into Area 51 or some other secret place. It is what you do when you are there that matters. In some cases it is somewhat similar to graffiti tagging, which ranges from art to vandalism.

In other cases it is a kind of rape.

It can also be a job skill that can be invaluable to fighting crime and protecting national security

The fact remains they have power. They aren’t the only ones who think this way.

The ability to cause great damage at a distance (to either human tissue or our data systems) with impunity is a form of vandalism. To wield a weapon, any weapon, is an exercise in responsibility as well as power. Any chemist can easily poison strangers and get away with it, any doctor can commit murder and not get caught, any cop can use his authority to commit crime, and any soldier can rape and pillage at will, if his officers or his comrades are not there to restrain them.

But the vast majority of people with that kind of power restrain themselves from using it, or at least, use it reluctantly in circumstances where they believe it is for some greater good. (Haven’t you ever fantasized you were invisible, or could read minds, or had super-powers?)

I have no use for hackers. They are vandals, bullies, and cowards who derive pleasure from hurting innocent strangers. Don’t let that bold talk of how they are “showing vulnerabilities or inequities in the System. The people whose files and property are getting trashed are consumers, not corporate bureaucracies or government agencies.

I’m not even too impressed by their technical expertise. Their knowledge of data structures and systems architecture has a very short shelf-life, the technology changes so fast that that being an expert today does not mean you will retain anything of value just a few years down the road. There is no fundamental “computer knowledge”, like there is fundamental knowledge in science or mathematics. What we know is operating systems and languages, GUIs and protocols; arbitrary sets of rules that are constantly being changed or made obsolete. Unless he spends his whole life constantly re-learning the alphabet, being a hacker is like being fluent in a dying tribal language, or an authority on this season’s women’s fashions. Take a few years off, in prison or in a hospital bed, and when you get back to it everything will have changed and you will be just like those you now hold in contempt for their dependence and ignorance of your hobby.