I think the hacker ethos mostly is about intent, not about consequences. Teaching people how locks work and about lock picking, for example, is within the hacker ethos, even though that knowledge can be used for stealing stuff.
Giving people a device they can use to pick locks without having any understanding as to why it works, on the other hand, is not considered part of hacker ethos.
The original hackers typically shared hacks freely. It just happened that, in their circles, people were way more interested in satisfying their curiosity than in money.
Giving people a device they can use to pick locks without having any understanding as to why it works, on the other hand, is not considered part of hacker ethos.
The original hackers typically shared hacks freely. It just happened that, in their circles, people were way more interested in satisfying their curiosity than in money.