Are Hackers Becoming the Modern-Day Paparazzi?

As many of your know, a Twitter email account was hacked and the information given to TechCrunch, who has agreed to publish this information on their blog. There has been a growing debate about this and the legalities involved. TechCrunch has responded by saying that they publish confidential information that companies don’t want to get-out all the time. This entire situation got me thinking.

Paparazzi has played an essential role for the traditional news media. They take pictures of celebrities, and the more revealing or private – the better! The celebrities that they photo do not want these photos to get-out and the better the picture, the higher the price. Here’s an issue that hasn’t been discussed enough though – is it not true that the computer hacker is becoming the modern-day paparazzi?

A computer hacker now gets revealing or private information about a company. The companies do not want this information to get-out and the better the info – the more money the receiving blog will get from advertisers (because they get more traffic!). Starting to sound the same right? Well, almost right.

The missing link here is that Paparazzi are paid by magazine (and paid big bucks) for juicy photos. This begs the question – what would stop big blogs from paying hackers big bucks for providing juicy information? I don’t know about you but I’d be interested to understand why a hacker would give a particular blog an exclusive on stolen information? It really makes me think that big blogs could be paying hackers to steal information since in the end – the blog will make a fortune!

Please remember, what I am stating here is an opinion, not a fact. That being said I wouldn’t be surprised to find, if you dig a little deeper, that these hackers are actually well-paid, modern-day paparazzi.

What do you think?

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton