The iPhone Caper - Breaking and Entering

Since the day the iPhone was introduced, hackers from around the world set themselves to the task of breaking its security. A 17-year old technology student figured our how to "unlock" the phone so it could be used on networks other than that of Apple's partner, ATT. While this is the most recent high profile case, it is only one of thousands of instances of hackers breaking into technology's secrets.

Tell me how this is different from a common thief breaking into your house.

Some of my hi-tech friends defend the practice of "informational hacks" - those meant to expose the weaknesses of a system without actually stealing data or wreaking havoc on the owners and users. They extol the ideal of open architecture and universal access. I suggest that is a self-deception, at best. If someone is so all-fired hot on developing a technology on open architecture, then by all means, have at it. Get out there and develop a technology, find a way to fund its development, marketing and support functions and make yourself a hero.

But to sit back and steal the secrets of a technology is the equivalent of saying, "Well, if I don't take it, someone else will." That doesn't make it right. Breaking and entering is still wrong, even if there is no law that specifically addresses it.

The fact that most of the articles I've read on the "iPhone Caper" treats the 17-year old hero and the hundreds of other hackers as regular Robin Hoods. As if stealing something off the back of someone else has become more noble than building one's own product.

On a related, but non-ethics note, what are the implications of moving toward a society that glorifies stealing or copying others' technology rather than building its own? Does that not sound at all familiar to anyone? Did we learn no lessons from post-WWII Japan?