Definitely some of that, but also the venture capital recuperation of a subversive counterculture. The phrase "hacker" evolved from practical jokers, to people with a knack to solve problems in novel ways, to internet looters, to the plumbers of the national security panopticon. It doesn't help that the culture took shape at M.I.T. It might not be Harvard, but it is a den of privilege and it's straight down the road.