Today, a breed of hackers is fast emerging on the scene and even getting government patronage. Reasons are plenty. But amidst the hullabaloo, I doubt the status showered on them. These hackers, who get the government patronage and boast to help police detect crimes committed on the websphere, are branded as ethical hackers. Many of them are enjoying celebrity status today and have started proclaiming themselves as hacking gurus. Recently I happened to attend such a book launch by Ankit Fadia, a twenty six year old guy. He claims to be an ethical hacker who’s helped the police crack many cases in India and hundred other countries. Well, I don’t dispute this fact. It may have happened.
But I would return back to the question whether hackers are ethical. Maybe yes. Believe me I don’t dispute this fact. There can be ethical hackers. But I doubt those who proclaim to enjoy celebrity status in the name of ethical hacking. While Ankit Fadia unveiled his latest hacking thriller “How to Unblock Everything on The Internet”, he was absolutely giving tips to sneak into the banned world and that too, in the presence of an MP and industrialist, Naveen Jindal, who was invited as a special guest to the press conference. Fadia’s argument was that he advocates the freedom of speech and expression on the internet. And Mr Jindal also favoured his view in his own political style.
But if employees of a company will spend time on the banned websites, where would the productivity go to of that company’s workforce? Since Mr Jindal is himself an industrialist, he must understand and had rather refused to be part of such a press briefing.
Though I do favour Fadia’s views on the freedom of speech and expression, I don’t agree on allowing employees spend too much of their time on the banned stuff and misuse the office bandwidth. Organizations can adopt ways to allow their employees to use some websites in an incremental and occasional manner so that they don’t feel suppressed.
If ethical hacking is what Fadia professed and suggested, perhaps the world doesn’t need it. In the name of ethical hacking, these miscreants of the web world are creating nothing but chaos, disruption and lawlessness. They must be controlled and checked, before the governments become their slaves in the future. My views may have contrary meanings, because to control hackers, you further need hackers. But to execute this idea, the governments of the world must stop acting against each other over the internet at least. As you sow, so shall you reap. If you’ll enshrine hackers and hacking, it will be bite you back.
O S scribbles... 