I'm not sure why people are surprised. The general collective has always seemed to have a conscience. Their tactics may be illegal but they generally push forward a righteous agenda. Protesting rigged Iranian elections, exposing BofA corruption, defending WikiLeaks and in general defending free speech. I'm not saying they are saints or that they are justified in their actions, just that this fits their m.o.

I'm not sure how you justify the Sony attacks but I'm sure it had something to do with corporate greed and perceived threats to free speech.

My laptop is only vulnerable to theft by people I am in physical contact with and is generally my responsibly to secure while connected to the Internet. Placing SSH keys on a server means I'm giving these keys and any access they grant to the admins of said server and am placing my trust in them to keep them secure. This is fine for automated trust relationships between hosts but not generally a good idea for personal keys.

I disagree. I would argue that closet chemists are not advancing chemical theory and are more likely looking at various practical applications. This simply takes a different perspective and removing ones self from corporate pressures (where something might not be seen as profitable) might provide that.

Yet games like Portal and Crayon Physics help change the direction of the industry.