by Munin

Created on: February 25, 2009

All skills can be used for both good and for ill-and as a skill, hacking is no different. There are those who hack specifically to commit crimes, true, but there are those who hack to prevent crimes from occurring.

A hacker is analogous in this way to a locksmith. A locksmith is perfectly capable of breaking into a house or a car by using his understanding of how locks work to take advantage of their weaknesses and commit a crime. On the other hand, a good locksmith can create locks that are harder for people to break into, and that can help people safeguard their valuables, using the very same understanding. Hackers are the same way: they can use their knowledge of how computers work to break into them and to steal people's secrets, or they can help keep others from breaking in by using their knowledge to create stronger protections.

True, those hackers who use their skills to break into others' computers are more visible. It makes great news footage; it's exciting to hear about criminals who break into bank computers and make off with millions; or hear about mysterious, shady Eastern Europeans allied with the Russian Mafia who are trying to take control of your computer right now for their nefarious purposes! The news media loves stories about evil hackers-most viewers have little knowledge of what hacking is, and accept the reporters' claims of a mysterious and nefarious evil at face value. Hackers can easily serve as modern-day bogeymen, useful to scare people into thinking that something out there is watching them, waiting to prey upon them if their guard drops for even a moment.

Reality, though, is different. Most people who consider themselves to be hackers are harmless, or even helpful to others. They know how to break into computers, yes, but they seek this knowledge not for the purpose of committing crimes-they seek it for the purpose of keeping others from doing so. They don't tend to make the news because they're not very interesting stories; after all, why bother doing a story on someone who sits in front of a computer all day examining programs just to make them safer? Much like a locksmith in the phone book, they're an ordinary person who you call when you need a spare key, rather than being a lurker in the dark who actively seeks to harm you.

Therefore, hacking is not morally wrong; morality does not even have a place in the discussion. An individual may use hacking skills to commit acts which are morally wrong; but to assign morality to the skills used, rather than to the person using them, is a mistake. One may as well argue the morality of a boxcutter; the tool is not the one making the decisions-the person is, and the person is responsible for their decision of whether to use the tool appropriately and constructively, or inappropriately and destructively.

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