Okay I watched this thread progress just to get a general idea of what everyone’s opinions were in regards to hacking. Now here's the deal.

Basically in short "Hacker" is a loaded word. The hacker community and it's a thriving online community which includes but is not limited to technophiles, curiosity seekers, cybervandals, and outright thieves and fraudsters. The technophiles love to take apart software to see how it works or what they can make it do. Some write tools and applications such as password crackers, vulnerability scanners, and anonymity tools, and make them freely available on the Internet or hacker Web sites and message boards. Some devote long hours to uncovering flaws in software that make systems less secure by allowing destructive worms and viruses to gain access.

As for the others, the intruders, vandals, virus writers, and thieves They are criminals, pure and simple. At their most benign, they are trespassers, rummaging through proprietary systems and databases. Hackers also are responsible for Web defacements, denial-of-service attacks, and identity theft. Some see themselves as rebels or revolutionaries, or "hactivists" spreading a message of anarchy and freedom. Some are simple mercenaries who write tools, known as exploits, to take advantage of security flaws and make it easier to penetrate systems. In some cases, they sell that information to spammers, organized crime, other hackers, or the intelligence services of foreign countries.

Hackers are blamed for unleashing worms and viruses that have cost businesses billions of dollars a year in damages. The problems they cause have gotten so bad that Microsoft created a $5 million fund to provide rewards for information leading to the capture of the people responsible for those attacks a few years ago. Microsoft is fed up with the damage done to its reputation and, increasingly, to its revenue stream and I’m fed up with it also>