Is Right and Wrong always Black and White?

​There were a couple of stories reported yesterday that caught my eye and got me thinking.  Both relate to people who have done bad things in past.  Raising the question, should your past mistakes stay with you for life, or is it ever possible to redeem yourself?

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There were a couple of stories reported yesterday that caught my eye and got me thinking.  Both relate to people who have done bad things in past.  Raising the question, should your past mistakes stay with you for life, or is it ever possible to redeem yourself?

Perhaps if you are convicted and served your time the slate is wiped clean. But is the prison system the best place to help offenders change enough to avoid recidivism?  And what if they haven’t served any time?

The first case is, for me, a really difficult one.  It emerged yesterday that Northumbria Police paid a convicted child rapist almost £10,000 to act us an informant. During the period he was engaged with them he was arrested on suspicion of another child sex offence.
 
I am sure you feel my outrage.  How can public money be used to pay a convicted child rapist.  My moral compass is very strong on this one.  This is wrong and can never be justified.

But dig deeper. 

The police recruited him to help them smash a child sex ring operating in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne.  Over a 21 month period he gave police vital information about the times and locations of parties where young girls were being abused.  18 people, including one woman, have now been convicted of abuse against at least 22 vulnerable girls. 

22 girls have seen the monsters who raped and abused them convicted.  I’m sure many more who did not come forward to testify will also sleep easier in bed tonight knowing the perpetrators are safely locked up.  And how many girls have been saved from future abuse because they are off the street? 

Even if it just one girl saved from this horrifying experience, then surely £10,000 is a small price to pay.  Everyone would agree, but to pay it to a convicted paedophile?
Of course, child protection campaigners are outraged, expressing deep unease about using a convicted paedophile in this way. And Jim Gamble, who set up the Government's taskforce to fight child sexual exploitation, criticised the move by Northumbria Police saying the tactic went "way over the line".

So does the end justify the means?  The police are clear that this man’s past made it easier for him to infiltrate this community to get them the evidence they needed to shut down this gang.  But can it ever be acceptable to give public money to a convicted paedophile?  And did using him, as some have suggested, actually put vulnerable girls more at risk?

I no longer know the answer, and am just grateful that I am not the one having to make these difficult decisions.

The second example is perhaps less controversial. 

We all know that computer hackers are the lowest of the low.  These people who break into systems and cause chaos, apparently just to show they can, should have the book thrown at them.  Even Game of Throne is not immune from their outrageous behaviour.   And who can forget the WannaCry "ransomware" virus that crippled more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in May.  This attack held public computer systems across the UK, including multiple NHS sites, to ransom.  Systems were locked and a ‘give us some money or we destroy your data’ threat was made.  I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it had the potential to shut down our NHS, or at least take it back to ‘pen and paper’ days.

Step forward a hero.  Marcus Hutchins, also known as MalwareTech, stopped the virus in its tracks when he found a "kill-switch" that slowed its effects.

Marcus is a ‘white hat hacker’.   One of a breed of computer geeks who test the security on computer systems all over the world.  .  They work alone, or in groups such as ‘anonymous’, and are often invited in by companies who want to test their security systems.  So it seems not all hackers are bad.

But wait, Marcus now faces charged in the US over creating and distributing Kronos malware which can be used to gain bank details.

So, Marcus has a past.  He intends to plead not guilty to all charges, and I don’t have sufficient information to make a judgement, but it strikes me he will not be the only ‘white hat hacker’ with a past. Even Penelope Garcia has some regrets about some of the things she has done.  Maybe breaking into unbreakable systems is part of a rite of passage for hackers?  If were are able to turn them from the dark side should we wipe the slate clean?  Or should no crime go unpunished?

It’s a bit of a vicious circle; as long as there are hackers we need security against hackers.  While a company can build as many security firewalls as they like, it always makes sense to have these defences tested.  The best way to do that is by hiring a hacker.

It seems that the very best ethical hackers will have started out by trying to hack systems which are closed to them.  If we are to turn them from the dark side and make use of them, maybe it’s time to start thinking about how an amnesty scheme for past offences might be used.  And what about the rest of us, who have no special skills?
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So, two very different cases, both if which have made me trim my moral compass just a little.