There is a blatand misuse of terms in that article, largely dealing with the media-rotten term 'hacker' to decribe (sruprise-surprise) crackers and script-kiddies. Sure, everybody does it, but anyway, it decreases the trust the article posseses.

I also believe [true] hackers have become a bit more socio- and politically-proactive in their manifestations, although it isn't seen immediately on a large scale. Undeground groups now have a point of more than just free information... there are bigger problems that threaten access to life, and to be able to revert to the idea of free information one must ensure one's immediate freedom at different other levels.

As for crackers, their numbers will always increase because business on the Internet always increases. Analoguous to that, the richer a man gets, the more thieves have their eyes on his assets [and would like to raid him]. There is an increasing market for phishers and con-artists out there, and they don't have any motivation to stop from trying to get a piece of everything.