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Hacking is generally seen in the public eye as something that is harmful to someone, and for a malicious purpose. The image it is presented in movies and television doesn't help the image of the act. However the act of hacking itself may not be harmful, but rather the intention of the hacker.

Many hackers make a purely honestly living working for major corporations like banks and social networks to attempt to hack into the sites to see what kinds of holes they can find in security, and then report back to the company. Some people feel uneasy about this because it would be very easy for someone with a malicious intent to pose as a certified ethical hacker to get easy access to information. However the practice still stands, but sometimes the results are not always great for the company.

Recently Facebook came under fire when refusing to pay someone who found a bug in their system, even going as far as stating that his poor use of English (the person was not American) made them unsure whether the problem was even a bug or not. The company is still in talks with this person after he left findings on the personal page of Mark Zuckerberg, which is a violation of Facebooks terms of service.

Ethical hacking isn't to be confused however with the cyber group Anonymous. The group of hackers, which the identities of the group members are not even known to each other and also have no leader, pick targets that they feel embody censorship or go against the views of the people. They have shut down the website for The Westboro Baptist church because of their picketing of the funerals of fallen soldiers and anti-homosexual statements. However the group has also targeted government organizations over sensitive documents, the SOPA and PIPA laws, and most recently the files of Edward Snowden. Currently the group is targeted by the FBI with one possible member in custody.

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/ethical-hacker

http://www.dailytech.com/Facebook+Ignores+Hackers+Bug+Report+Then+Refuses+to+Pay+Him/article33195.htm

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/ff_anonymous/all/