Why cracking down on hackers would be bad for innovation

[Commentary] Every week seems to bring a new hacking story -- the massive hacking attack on the US government’s databases and the attacks on the US health care system are just two of the bigger stories -- so it’s perhaps no surprise that the knee-jerk reaction is to take the fight directly to the hackers. By making the penalties tougher, by expanding the scope of federal anti-hacking statutes and making it easier to prosecute wrongdoers, it’ll convince hackers that it’s just not worth the risk, right? The problem is that simply toughening the laws on hackers by extending their scope and reach or extending the prison sentences of hackers is not going to help catch the real hackers -- the criminalized, anonymous hackers who operate in places such as China. Instead, they’re more likely to ensnare the likes of hacktivist heroes such as Aaron Swartz.

Getting tough on hackers by extending the definition of what a hacker is would theoretically mean that people who even so much as retweet or click on a link with unauthorized information could be committing a felony. Moreover, the white hat hackers (the “good guys”) could be ensnared as well, since their work, at its core, is indistinguishable from that of the black hat hackers (the “bad guys”). And that could have a chilling effect on innovation.

[Dominic Basulto is a futurist and blogger based in New York City]