"When Tom's, Cnet, Ars, etc.. go and post this stuff as "NEWS" they are just feeding the hacker's EGOs and encouraging them to keep doing it."
Amen to what Netherscourge said. The Tom's articles almost seem to gloat and enjoy the criminal activity of these groups, and seem to try to justify it or promote it both by doing the article in the first place (which gives the groups exactly what they want, which is publicity), and then by portraying the "hackers" as some kind of folk heroes. In most cases they are just left-wing anti-capitalist, anti-americans whose "hacking" has nothing to do with anything but anarchy and trying to undermine the software industry, which is one of the few industries that the US still has a big lead in. Their pretexts and supposed causes are just that... pretexts and supposed causes, or fronts so-to-speak. Their goal is just to hurt a country they hate. You don't see them out attacking marxist dictatorships, etc.