by Omar Jubran

Created on: January 29, 2009   Last Updated: August 28, 2011

People generally make the assumption that hacking is an act of illegally breaking into a victims computer or website, for the purpose of stealing information, corrupting files, or causing damage, while some of this might be true, this is usually not the case, as hacking involves more than that, and it’s a very vague and broad term.  

Real hacking is not really about causing damage, it’s about control, real hackers are skillful individuals, who usually get what information they need without the need to do something illegal, they are mostly familiar with programming languages, and they have their own resources, some beginners who do not fully understand programming languages or how to really deal and do with their own resources, result into using programs that do the trick for them, these programs are learned without a lot of effort, and are available on many websites, so it does not require them to actually learn programming languages or anything like that, and usually they are easy to detect, and what they do is of course both immoral and illegal, on the other hand, hackers use their skills in handling information, they can tweak their operating system, and thus most of their work is on their computers, to improve its performance and to make full use of it, unlike average users.

So what is the difference between hackers and programmers ?

It’s actually not a very big difference, maybe there is no difference at all, because hackers and programmers have almost the same set of skills, and what has been said that a hacked can only be detected by another hacker, is almost true, and since programmers can detect hackers, it is easy to say they are identical,  the only difference is how they choose to use their skills, Which depends on the person himself.

Many hackers use their skills to improve their gaming experience, by customizing games, such as creating custom characters or custom maps –depending on the game- and they also improve their system performance by using shareware and freeware to customize their operating system, such things aren't considered immoral or even illegal, Because these changes only affect the user, some other tricks they do is changing the appearance of their computer by adding useful gadgets and changing the layout of their computer, they can also design their own sites, using programming languages such as HTML, and it’s easier for them to link websites together, or use remote administration techniques, and much more.

It's True that some hackers might hack into systems and it is considered highly immoral, and  also illegal, but not all hackers do that, some might do it just to pull pranks on their friends, just friendly jokes and they don't do much damage, like making somebody’s screen shaky for a while, so when it comes to judging a hacker it's not a simple black and white decision, You have to consider all of the facts and see what he is actually doing with his skills, many hackers can program and they use their abilities to make useful software for others, and they provide them with no charges –shareware or freeware- to people, or simply use their skills to tweak their computers, they have their own sites and they use them to display their work.

Hacking is immoral when it affects people who don't want to be affected, Other than that there is nothing wrong with it.

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