Hacking can be used in many ways, by many different people. Some get the joy of cracking a security system, others use it as a practical joke, some want to send a clear message, and others want to open up information previously unavailable to the public. For the latter, hackers may crack government or company sites to show their opinion on an issue or get past restrictive government firewalls. I feel like this as a form of protest is legitimate, especially in an oppressive environment. If a government or a company is treating the citizens or its employees unfairly, I believe that expressing your opinion through cracking their security and posting your opinion on their site is an effective way to have your voice heard. In the case of Nike, there was someone hacking their site to protest their unfair treatment of employees and the hacker acted in the interest of everyone who felt mistreated. I believe this is a useful and a peaceful way to get the point across. Another seemingly valid use for hacking would be to resist oppressive government policies to give people access to information the government does not want them to see. Although hacking for ethical reasons may seem beneficial, I still believe that it should be punishable. If people begin to get unregulated access to everything, it may potentially give them access to false information. Because it may change certain opinions, this may destabilize a situation in a given society. There is a fine line between useless and need-to-know information. It should not be up to someone with hacking skills to decide that. Hacking hurts the creators of the original sites, data, or similar information and therefore should be considered a crime. If someone wants to use it for ethical reasons, they may as well do it without hurting anyone else.
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