by 
Knopper67
ANSWERS: 5
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In the early days of computers, before the Internet, the development of what we know as Hackers was coined. In those days it was for the most part the early highly computer literate that wanted to snoop into other computer systems for fun. Usually done through electronic Bulletin Boards, such as that depicted in the film "War Games" (tap into the school computer and change your marks). Also hackers were those who 'cracked' the programming codes in the early video games (such as those made for the Commodore computers). Of course, with the introduction of the World Wide Web, the goal for many hackers are broader and less innocent. Some, I'm sure, do it as a hobby, to test their skills in snooping in others computers (as if they were picking a lock) but "Black Hat Hackers" are those who break into innocent peoples computers for perceived financial gain (be it your credit card #'s or a companies finacial records etc.). If they did not exist, we wouldn't need the layers of protection each of us put on our computers to combat them.
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It's a vague answer - bordering on sarcasm, but it's so true: Because they can.
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These days the so-called hackers (it used to mean something else) are mostly people who are hired by spammers to infect your Windows computer and turn it into a soldier in their zombie army of spam machines. In light of this, the motivation is probably money and a twisted sense of power/accomplishment. Then there are the script-kiddies who are just being immature.
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Because they can and because they probably have nothing better to do. 'Hacking' used to mean something in a more broader sense of changing and working a piece of code, software or whatever to do something in a new and original way. What most people now associate it with is malicious activity over computer network to cause intentional damage. Often people doing 'bad things' haven't thought about things deeply enough to understand why they are doing it themselves. Even five minutes of talking through the hows, whys and whats of a situation can often let someone realise what they are actually doing.
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People who break into other people's computers without permission aren't hackers. Quite often, they're what's known as script kiddies with no technical talent whatsoever. I don't call them hackers. Criminals, thieves and a few other names I can't mention here but not hackers. Hackers are people who are interested in how things work. They like to pull things, computers, networks, programs etc. apart, find out how they work and see if they can improve them. I think the media is mostly responsible for giving us a bad name.
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