Hacking For a Buck?

Winter White Rose.  Copyright: singeronthesand 2011

 

The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10

My father was a newspaper man at Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.  He was the day foreman in the composing room, and my brothers and I all worked at the paper during our teen/twentysomething years.  I know from experience that the business is cutthroat at best and downright dirty much of the time.  The search for news [the best, the most, the juiciest] is a 24/7 rat race.  The recent revelations in Britain, however, of the lengths that Rupert Murdoch and his minions were willing to go to sell newspapers, are astounding in their callousness and evil.

Celebrities lay their lives open for the world to see, and are used to the invasion of their privacy and lifestyle.  They may not like it, but it is good business sense.  Hiring a professional to hack into the cell phones of murdered children and the families of troops killed in action is another matter entirely.  In the most explosive case involving Murdoch’s media conglomerate, a missing teenage girl’s phone was hacked for information.  After listening, the hacker deleted posts to make room for more [to be hacked at a later date], giving the parents false hope that their child was still alive and retrieving her messages.  Despicable is the word that comes to mind, but doesn’t quite seem to describe the depth of depravity and greed that would engender this action.

What would I do to make a buck?  I’ve tried lots of things in my life – some successful, others not so much.  Compromising my integrity to do so, however, has not made it onto my list.  Preying on the lives of innocent people has not been utilized either. Our integrity—our character—makes us who we are.  Our respect for the lives and privacy of those around us enables us to live peaceably on this planet.  Treating others as you would want to be treated gives us hope for a continued future together.