The Seventh Crime

Finally, there is hacking. Hackers have the abil-ity to do any of the above, but they choose not to. Read that again carefully, and see if you can detect the paradox. The person who perpetrates the seventh of seven computer crimes - hacking - has just been described as a person who chooses not to commit any crimes at all. Of course, there is that small matter of illegally breaking into other people's computers before that choice is made. But we conveniently disregard that because we don't see any harm in the simple act of "breaking in." Where other computer crimes are concerned, motivations are obvious. It is obvious why a person would steal a computer, or engage in a financial crime, or a crime of vengeance. But with pure hacking, essentially a peaceful, harmless act, motivations might not be as apparent. The traditional motivation for a hacker was the quest for knowledge. But nowadays that quest may be ruled by higher motives - like money. There are hackers who see their talent not as a hobby, but as a trade. In fact, there are a number of both moral and immoral reasons one would provide one's hacking services for a fee. Before we get further into the How's of hacking, let's take a brief look at the Why's.