This is interesting because it can ripple in everyone's life. How much trust should you put in the hands of computer technologists (which include technicians, programmers, and scientists in the way it's used)? Being a computer programmer and scientist I run into situations that try my moral standing regularly. Should I program something to bypass security restrictions - should I inform a person about a problem that is a security flaw - should I remember user's passwords - etc. The last one can be especially dangerous because it only takes about one time of typing a password in for me to remember it, and the memory can stay with me for a long time (years). I can only assume it's similar for many other computer people.

The difference is most computer technologists have an unspoken oath to not use other's passwords, to not care what's on their computers (if it's illegal then tell about it, but if not then pay no mind), and to not use their programming to harm computer systems. These guidelines, that I follow if not others, ensure that my programs are trustworthy and are not meant to intentionally cause harm.

New computer science programs have computer ethics classes that are required, which raise questions like the one posed by this article - if you have the power to cause harm and the reason, is it the right thing to do? We can see that even though this person fled he was discovered and imprisoned, so doing these things is not the right thing to do in any circumstance.

In the end I think the lesson should be that the world isn't like the movie "Hackers," it's more advanced and more connected than ever and it's only a matter of time before the rest of the world becomes annoyed with hackers (actually, crackers), spammers, and phishers.