Computer technology has come with its consequences. The application of computers at the workplace, at home and in the schools has greatly facilitated efficiency and delivery of high quality work. However, it has come with hacking. Hacking is the illegal, unauthorised and often secret access of one’s information in the computer system. Hacking can be done through a primary computer or through a secondary source. Often, it has both good and bad consequences.
Hacking may facilitate the discovery of talent. For one to hack into a system, he has to develop a program that can beat the system’s security mechanism. A successful hacker consequently must be talented and knowledgeable in his activities. From this premise, it becomes obvious that hacking can be a ground for the training and discovery of talent within the information technology discipline. Hacking provides the technology student and learner with the opportunity to learn the various systems and develop mechanisms to tackle it. In addition, hacking expands the development in the computer technology discipline. It is because of hacking that software developers have come up with applications intended to protect the security and confidentiality of systems. Absent hacking and the rigorous security protocols that characterise modern day computer technologies would not be present.
Moreover hacking provides the hacker with information that would previously have not been availed to the hacker. In this context, it should be appreciated that the user of the hacked information could be in a position to misuse the information or use it for useful purposes. In cases, for instance, where hacking the systems has availed valuable information to security forces it has been applied for beneficial purposes. An illustrative case could be cited in cases of terrorism and crime in the United States of America. The American intelligence at the federal level have had immense hacking abilities that enable them to discover some organized crime or terrorist attacks beforehand. This has effectively increased the number of criminal activities in the end securing the nation against crime.
Hacking could be useful for purposes of regulating and monitoring the use of information technology. A lot of transactions both of positive and negative characters go through the internet. The fast and effective interactions over online sources have facilitated the large volumes of transactions. In that melee of transactions, regulators and oversight bodies have been met with fundamental challenges of regulations. For instance, cases of illegal betting, pornographic literature and content transfer, copyright violations to intellectual property such as movies, videos, literature, among others go on unregulated and unabated. Hacking by regulatory bodies of some of these sites and websites has brought to book the perpetrators of these crimes. In addition, the hacking has effectively cut on the volumes of these illicit transactions. It has only been possible because of the superior technology regulators have in hacking the systems.
Hacking has not only been limited to regulators, in the academic field hacking has played an essential role. It has enabled the balance in the information spread. Capitalist systems have seen people patent and copyright information and deny others even information that ought to be given to the public in the overall interests of society. Hackers have provided solutions through their abilities to hack into restrictive systems get the information and relay it to the public domain. In that sense capitalists who want to gather even in unnecessary circumstances have been denied the opportunities of exploiting the public. This is not to say that copyrights, patents or intellectual property as a whole is bad. However, it is to indicate that it ought to have its limits and should balance between individual gains and the overall societal progress.
Hacking has not only been good, it has come with its bad consequences. Computer hacking, for instance, has exposed institutions and government agencies alike. Hackers have had access to restricted and confidential information which in many times they have misused. For instance, a hacker in the past years successfully hacked the security system of the United States of America at the Pentagon. This posited immense security threats to the nation since the hacker’s intention was unknown. Such information if traded to the enemy could be used against the citizenry and in the long run threaten the security of the nation.
In addition, hacking threatens the stability and robust nature of businesses. Cases have arisen where hackers access the information systems of organizations and modify, alter or distort information to their own advantage. In such cases businesses have lost billions of shillings through undetected distortions. In addition, hacking has increased the overall costs of transactions. This has been occasioned by the need for businesses to invest immensely in robust security systems and protocols that do not easily succumb to hacking. In the long run, the addition costs of security has been transferred to the consumer who has had to bear the cost through higher pricing.
The most affected discipline is the regime of intellectual property. Hacking has not been able to discriminate between intellectual property and information in the public domain. Through robust systems of hacking, it has been possible to access protected information. In that context, hacking has facilitated gross violations of copyrights and patents laws. It has effectively provided access to information that would otherwise have been offered through economic transactions in favour of the intellectual property owners. In the long run, this has negatively impacted on the development of innovations and intellectual property. Developers have been discouraged by the hacking culture that disrespects their proprietary rights. In the long run, any society without innovations is static and stuck in the old regimes with their weaknesses.
Hacking has also facilitated the erosion of the societal norms and practises. Hacking has enabled underage and unauthorised persons access sites that have detrimental effects on them. For instance, minors can hack and access pornographic sites hence exposing them to illicit sexual literature and movies that will compromise their moral standing. It has also led to the sexualisation of the younger generation. In their attempts to gratify their highly sexualized bodies, they end up engaging in early and unprotected sexual intercourse. This has occasioned unwanted pregnancies, early births, among others. In the long run it has threatened the societal fabric. Hacking has also enabled these young generation access violent and war prone content. This has affected their psychological growth and development with the violent attitude being entertained.
In the long run, hacking occasions more harm than good in the society. Its overall effect is the provision of confidential and unauthorised information to the public. While this information can be used for noble purposes, in many cases it has often been abused.
Works Cited
David, Baptiste, Dorian Larget and Thibaut Scherrer. "The security of databases: the Access case." Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques (2013): 6-10.
Franke, Hubertus , Paul Kelly and Pedro Trancoso. "Guest Editorial: Computing Frontiers." International Journal of Parallel Programming (2012): 551-552.
Renniea, Lara and Malcolm Shoreb. "An Advanced Model of Hacking." Security Journal (2007): 236-251.
