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Hacking is not bad in itself.

The idea that computer hackers are bad by default is not true. While some hackers are malicious, many hackers are not out to do bad things. Many hackers got into hacking out of curiosity, wanting to know how computers and software work or extend their capabilities.

Hackers have a set of skills that can be used for good or bad, depending on the individual. This is true for anything that people do, skill sets are not good or bad in themselves. Yet, in a world that ever more dependent on computer systems to work, hackers are described as people who are out  to no good by many media outlets.

Yet, hackers can be a force for good. In fact, a good proportion of them use their skills to actually improve computer systems we use. Some by helping patching vulnerabilities in the computer systems, others by finding ways to extend their capabilities, while others help keep systems alive that have been dropped by their original developers.

As computer systems become more important for our daily lives, it would be in our best interest that more people learned to hack in order to keep in check the interest of private companies to control the data that we generate daily. We need to have people who can independently verify what companies say their systems are capable of, and what they do with our data.

Along with hackers with a strong skill set to do so, it is also paramount that open-source software become more prevalent. The software itself shouldn't be what is protected, but the information contained in the software is what should be protected. Most importantly, it is important to understand that just because software is open-source it means that everyone can use it as they want to use it. All open-source licenses have some limits on how the software it covers can be distributed, the ownership of the software, and how derivative works can use the source code and its redistribution.

Most importantly, open-source software development makes harder for companies to hide things on the source code of the computer systems we use, since third parties outside those companies can legally revise the code to make sure that the software it runs actually complies with what its said it does.

Hackers have the skill set and knowledge to make sure IT providers, software developers, and computer system providers, actually do what they say they do.  Governments can use the help of private individuals, and companies, in policing that our computer systems work as intended while staying within the limits of the law. As such, having a thriving hacker culture is beneficial to the general public by keeping tech companies in check.

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