text: In 2002, however, the Anti-Sec community published use of the term to refer to people who work in the security industry by day, but engage in black hat activities by night. The irony was that for black hats, this interpretation was seen as a derogatory term; whereas amongst white hats it was a term that lent a sense of popular notoriety.
  Following the rise and eventual decline of the full disclosure vs. anti-sec "golden era"—and the subsequent growth of an "ethical hacking" philosophy—the term grey hat began to take on all sorts of diverse meanings.  The prosecution in the U.S. of Dmitry Sklyarov for activities which were legal in his home country changed the attitudes of many security researchers.  As the Internet became used for more critical functions, and concerns about terrorism grew, the term "white hat" started referring to corporate security experts who did not support full disclosure.
  In 2008, the EFF defined grey hats as ethical security researchers who inadvertently or arguably violate the law in an effort to research and improve security.  They advocate for computer offense laws that are clearer and more narrowly drawn.
  Examples
  In April 2000, hackers known as "{}" and "Hardbeat" gained unauthorized access to Apache.org. They chose to alert Apache crew of the problems rather than try to damage the Apache.org servers.