I think you're missing the point of the article at least a little here, although I agree with almost all of your points. Granted, hackers like any other group aren't all heroes or not heroes, and as you say the term is a loaded one already. But if you can define heroes as "people from all walks of life and professions, at varying skill levels who do something at great risk...for the good of one or many people", then there are certain examples in the article that fit that description. Heck, even the kids stealing credit card details are benefiting themselves, which actually conforms to your definition.

In certain cases I think black-hats are completely justified. I don't see what's wrong with DOS attacks on an organization like the FBI, a well known perpetrator of torture internationally. Ok, so one could argue that most DOS attacks are merely mischievous and aren't politically or morally motivated, but some are, and it's usually a case of the little guy (small groups of citizens) against the big guy (governments), and one could see this kind of hacking as a force tipping the balance in the individual's favour.