Hacker Ethic Response

In many ways the hacker ethic has helped in the development and furthering of the Internet. For example, the development of programs such as Napster and Limewire have forced companies to find ways to protect their media and take action against people who break copyright laws. As hackers continue to improve and breakthrough barriers, the media world has to constantly be working to improve and prevent these hackers from breaking through.

Hacking also has negative repercussions as well. Downloading music without paying for it is, in fact, stealing. It breaks copyright laws, and is damaging to those who worked hard to create this music. I have an account on Deviantart.com (http://ta-rama-rie.deviantart.com/), which is a website where artists can post and share their work. Under all my work it states that this piece is under copyright and unless you're me, you can't use it without permission. If I was surfing the web and found a site that had used one of my pieces in their layout, I would be a little irritated and would probably take some form of action against the person who took it.

In some ways I agree with the hacker ethic. I feel that if you are capable enough to go out there and find the information you're looking for, then good for you. My views are kind of conflicted though, as I also think things such as copyright laws are important. I illegally download music, yet when I post my artwork online I expect people to not steal it. I cannot really take a firm stance on this topic, because I participate on both sides of the argument.