Rank the motives from 1 to 7 as the motives that you think make the most sense (being 1) to the least sense (being 7). Explain why you rank each motive the way you rank it.

Multiple reason: Rank 1. Mainly because people are not a singular dimension. It takes multiple reasons/dimensions to lead a person to a certain discission. Some singular factors can weigh more than others in the process, but the process always has some levels of multiple reasoning.

Political: Rank 2. I place it second because ideals can sway people and spread like wildfire. This is a dangerous reason because people may get caught up in the limelight of “hacktivism” and not realize the full situation or the significance of their actions. Also, motivations for performing criminal activities under the political ideal can vary greatly depending on the individual or situation they are in.

Money: Rank 3. This is because we expect criminal actors to be motivated by money inherently. They gather and sell, ransomware, or shut down infrastructure which can influence economies.

Revenge: Rank 4. I put it fourth because the article talks about revenge porn. This sort of thing I feel like generally takes two to participate. One must have media they don’t wish to be spread and the other to spread the media. If you as the victim didn’t want that sort of thing shared don’t have it taken in the first place. Especially since we all know what the internet can do now. Also, the actor doing the sharing will have a specific reason for sharing the media of the victim. This makes the revenge motivation rather specific situation but out of malice and thus more dangerous.

Recognition: Rank 5. This is the fifth because it is pure ego or vanity. I feel people who want to continue doing criminal activity and get away with it do not want to be known. Those who want to have their name in the spotlight will get caught and then won’t be able to continue. Damage can come from this but it is rather a short term problem in comparison.

Entertainment: Rank 6. From the article description I place this lower since it really was for money and the entertainment value was a side note. Another way to put entertainment in the context of the article is to label it “challenge”. The excitement from a challenge always makes other motivations “sweeter” thus, it is rarely ever a main motivator.

Boredom: Rank 7. This is closely related to entertainment. In fact, I believe that the article for entertainment would better fit boredom and vice versa. The article selected for the boredom motivation talks about the dangers of children on the internet seeking entertainment. This is what I would consider a subsection of entertainment and it is dangerous because unskilled or uneducated people looking for fun can put themselves at risk for dangerous activities.