Destructive Hacks vs. Guerilla Activism

So earlier this week Gizmodo decided to derail the Consumer Electronic's Show using TV-B-Gone. While this sort of trickery is certainly amusing, it fails to serve its true purpose of disrupting rampant consumer-focussed media. Where they went wrong:
1. Gizmodo is a gizmo site. By virtue of its existence as a product review site this action obviously had nothing to do with anti-consumerism, but rather with plain old general prankery.
2. Clever hacks are only really clever when they are your idea. TV-B-Gone was invented (or at least patented) by Mitch Altman. No one's going to think egging or toilet papering the CES is clever, why should you get props for this?

THE CLEVER BUT DEADLY HACK
I just read an article in BoingBoing about a Polish teen that hacked a television controller and derailed four vehicles from a train station in Lodz. OMG. This kid is 14-years-old. Shouldn't he be learning to smoke or something? Far be it from me to condone rampant vandalism and violence, but DAMN. Somebody give this kid a real job and keep him busy. The entire article is at the Register.

A PLEA
If you're smart and enjoy mischief can you at least wreak havoc for a reason? It's just the decent thing to do. Maybe you've got a great crowd hack that just needs a cause. Take the time to look for that cause. Inevitably others will decide to criticize (or sue) you in the aftermath of your actions. The cause differentiates the Batmans from the Jokers.

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Destructive Hacks vs. Guerilla Activism

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