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shades of gray

To get the inside view into the world of hackers is a fascinating study of how humans justify and rationalize their behavior. There are those who see themselves as harmless and indeed are benign, those who are malicious and acknowledge it (usually with qualification), and those who fall in-between and see themselves as serving some "greater good" by their endeavors. The problem may be that hackers can switch hats at will, and who's to say what is really going on... "Moral ambiguity" is the state we're in, and it can be difficult to draw the line between hacker and criminal. We look to the law to set the definition, but so much is yet to be decided. For now, we all have to keep our fingers crossed and try our best to keep safe.

Sat, 12 Feb 2000 19:34:12 -0800

Submitted by: Allison Conner