Rent-a-Hacker Site Leaks Australian Buyers Names and Address

Question: Write an essay on "Rent-a-Hacker Site Leaks Australian Buyers' Names and Addresses". Answer: Background Hacking or renting a hacker to perform actions like boosting grades, spying on spouses, getting access to business rivals accounts, regaining access to own accounts are becoming a common instance.This particular news item is about a site Hackers list which was launched in November, 2015 with an assurance that only the person hiring and hired would know about the details of the project. But Jonathan Mayer, a security analyst has found that the site is leaking out information which could be ultimately used to identify the people who employed the hackers. The fact that people all over the world make use of such services some time or the other also has come into light. Another important point to be remembered is that even though some of these actions are legal, most of the works undertaken in this particular area is illegal. A West Australian user called Jarmaa who wanted a semi-unethical hacker to hack into the website of Tertiary Institution Service Centre to alter the grades claims th at hacking not at the cost of anyone else should be considered legal. According to Meyer who studied the publically available information on hackers list most of the jobs undertaken are illegal (Tung, 2015). Analysis Using Consequential Theory Consequential theorists are of the opinion that end of any action is the more important part. The consequences arising from an action determines the rightness or wrongness of that particular action (Portmore, 2011). In this case that is being discussed, hacking is employed either to breach into a spouses privacy, to perform a forgery or to steal intellectual property of a rival company. All these activities are wrong and results in negative consequences. Also the site which has marketed itself promising absolute secrecy is leaking confidential information which is an instance of violation of trust and privacy of its customers. But as this information can be made use by the law enforcement authorities to get hold of the wrongdoers and the end result of the action by the concerned site is good, there is a scope for rethinking.The customers of the site who make use of its services to get access to others lives, privacy and data and the site using its expertise to enable them to do so ca n be categorized as wrongdoers. There are many laws and regulations made to protect the rights of the individuals on internet. All these legalities are being violated by both the parties when a hacking takes place. When a business rival is being handled by employing an unethical strategy professionalism of the organization becomes questionable. Spouses and lovers have their own privacy. No one has a right to interfere with this privacy (Suikkanen, 2009). When a student altering the grade amounts to forgery and the trust of others who are worthy of tit by their hard work are being cheated in such a scenario. The act of hacking itself is illegal. Thus, as per the theory of consequentialism the end result of the consequence of the action is invariably bad and so the action itself is unethical and wrong. But at the same time the information available from the site is being used to bring into light the perpetrators of the crime and thus helping the authorities to get hold of them. This h owever is not a license for the hackers to continue doing this wrong action. Analysis using deontological theory This theory is mostly based on the work of Immanuel Kant. According to this theory all the actions to be ethical must adherent to the existing laws and regulations. There are a number of obligations that every individual should follow to be right and fair and these should be correctly followed for the life to be smooth and easy (Himma, 2007). While analyzing this particular case from this point of view, hacking itself is an illegal act. It is a violation of privacy, security and other various rights of the targets. The hackers list giving out the data of the customers is helping the authorities in getting hold of the people engaged in this illegal activity. It is helping out the law enforcement authority this way. The people making use of this site are doing so mostly for illegal access into various instruments and information for their own personal gains. This activity is punishable under the law. Every individual and firms have equal rights and someone for their selfish purposes br eaching these rights is unfair (Soe.syr.edu, 2016). The action of the sites that rents their service to help people undertake this illegal action is to be penalized. Thus, according to the theory the people employing the hackers and the hackers themselves are undertaking wrong action. When the information available is used by the law enforcers, knowingly or unknowingly the site is helping themto bring down the wrongdoers. The rightness of the action of the company can only be finalized after understanding their intention in giving out the data after doing an unethical thing. Conclusion Every individual need rights in the true spirit that are not violated or breached to lead a happy, complete and peaceful right. Illegal hacking questions a number of rights of people and thus interrupts with their smooth life and work. When the data of a business firm is hacked its normal productivity and performance gets affected. Thus the action is unethical. The site leaking the data of the perpetrators of this very action is thus helping the law enforcers in getting hold of them and is doing a right thing. But it is because these hackers are available the normal folks shows a tendency to do this very act. The people making use of these sites as well as those who give out their services to perform this act should be brought to law and strong laws and regulations should be made to prevent these tendencies. References Himma, K. (2007).Internet Security: Hacking, Counterhacking, and Society. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Portmore, D. (2011).Commonsense consequentialism. New York: Oxford University Press. Suikkanen, J. (2009). Consequentialism, Constraints and the Good-Relative-To: A Reply to Mark Schroeder.Journal Of Ethics Social Philosophy. Tung, L. (2015).Rent-a-hacker site leaks Australian buyers' names and addresses.The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 May 2016.