I've never really liked the notion that true scots... hackers aren't the ones breaking into systems, or whatever you attribute to 'crackers'.

Hackers can be black hat. Hackers can be nasty people. They can also be completely benign.

Also, sometimes the law isn't in the right. I would definitely call Jon Johansen a Hacker in the highest and best sense. But he illegally broke encryption and enabled piracy.

see also: the hacker manifesto