Originally posted here by cwk9
First of all I’m sick of hearing the whole hacking is like breaking into someone’s house bit.

Second you tell me witch is worse.
1. Hacker finds hole in system and tells system admin, no harm done right?
2. Hacker finds hole but does not tell system admin because he’s afraid he will get in trouble. Next day evil hacker number 2 comes along and finds same hole and causes lots of damage.
this is a typical problem for many hackers. but normally when a hole is this situation the hacker almost stumbled upon it. This means that the hacker didn't do anything out of the ordinary to find it. If that's the case then simply tell the admin and if he starts make any trouble then don't worry because if the security flaw was that obvious then the admin will get his ass kicked in court.
Also we have the right to observe. Hackers (any1 actually but it's mostly hackers who know howto) may drag all the info out of a system that the system leaves open to the public. But if this info shows a security hole then the admin must be contacted at this stage and not after the hacker have broken into the system. If the hacker break in, he/she breaks the law. it's ok to find errors but if the hacker wants to test his theory he must do it on a system he has the right to mess with...

about the "sick of the house bit". yea it's used often but it makes everything so very clear. of course u can't fully compare a 'puter with a house but it has to be compared with something. how else will we know if something is wrong? to know if something is good we must know when something is bad. we judge by comparing things... but maybe we can find some alternative to the house parallel...