HACKERS’ PRIVACY APPROACHES: HOW PRIVACY VIOLATION AND PRIVACY PROTECTION GO HAND IN HAND

Resumen

This study examines the apparent paradox of hackers engaging in both invading and safeguarding privacy. Drawing on digital materialism, which posits that code holds a material presence and cultural significance beyond its functional role, the research aims to illuminate the hackers' ethical dilemmas embedded in privacy code. To gain insight into the cultural logic behind this seeming contrast, we conducted qualitative content and code analyses on both malicious and non-malicious code projects from the open-source platform GitHub. We have narrowed down a list of 2500 hackers to 52 who own both malicious and non-malicious projects, with a reference to privacy. We found that these hackers justify their malicious projects as educational tools, often cautioning other users against illegal use. The hackers' logic asserts that those possessing private information are responsible for its protection, be it the end-user or the software owner managing the information post-collection. This logic is translated into code using two privacy approaches: a formal privacy-by-policy and a technically-oriented privacy-by-design. The hackers' polar approach to privacy materializes both in violating privacy when crafting breaching code and in writing code that expertly protects it. From this individualized, privatized standpoint, this duality makes perfect sense.