Quite a while after it was released I finally took the time to look over the latest issue of Phrack, and there was an article that caught my attention. Namely The Hacker’s Renaissance: A Manifesto Reborn. For quite some time I’ve been thinking about the meaning of words like hacker and hacking. Is a hacker inherently a bad guy? If so, what does that say about an ethical hacker? How have this identity shifted over time? ...
I’ve lately seen multiple bug bounty hunters on twitter (and other platforms) proudly exclaiming that hacking is not a crime. They are not wrong, but I think the answer needs to be a bit more nuanced. So here is my take on hacking. Hacking is not inherently a crime, but neither is it automatically never criminal. I would compare it with lighting a fire. There are instances where it is helpful and legal (eg. lighting a campfire), but there are at least as many ways of doing it illegally (eg. burning down a building). The act of lighting a fire can be good or bad, legal or illegal, ethical or unethical. Everything depends on how you do it. ...