Ethics Assignment

SPOILER ALERT. My post will be talking about a situation that occurred in the show Mr. Robot but also does occur in real life. So here's my warning now for spoilers. Also watch the show. It's really good. 

Situation: In episode 1 (eps1.0_hellofriend.mov) of Mr. Robot the main character of the show Elliot hacks a restaurant owner who facilitates the distribution of child pornography and turns him in to the police. Elliot has faces a lot of inward problems like social anxiety, depression, and other complex psyche issues. He also faces a lot of outward problems such as faults in capitalism, social media, and even directly correlates retail and consumerism as a form of sedation. Things he sees as various ills in society. While Elliot cannot do much to change problems within himself he takes it into his own hand to correct the wrongs in what is his outwards problems in society.

Claim: Elliot and hackers alike are completely fine to target predators, child porn distributors, etc. If they have reason to believe a person in engaging in those acts they should investigate and ultimately hack them to turn them into the police if so need be.

Argument: I'm all for privacy. Every human deserves the right to privacy but when you cross the line, to me at least, you're less than human. A key point I made earlier was that a hacker needs to have reason to believe, as in seeing the traffic, noticing patterns, and ultimately knowing who it is they're hacking before the hacking occurs. After sufficient evidence they give up their rights to privacy and deserve to be hacked. There are various laws against intrusion with computers but this law should not apply to hackers who reveal and turn in child porn distributors and such. 

Principle: If Elliot (and hackers) are not harming or incriminating innocent people then justice should not judge against them for their mode of operation.