He's an intriguing moral bellwether, Nathaniel Heatwole. Heatwole is that nice young college student who tossed his life away by planting bleach, matches, box cutters and fake explosives on planes, resulting in delays and renewed passenger jitters, as law enforcement initiated searches of airplanes throughout the United States. Heatwole declared himself engaged in a mission of "civil disobedience with the aim of improving public safety for the air-traveling public."

It was an interesting claim, if a familiar one in the annals of crime: It may look like I was joyriding in that little red Corvette, but really I was just testing the security. Think of it as a public service. You passed--now unhand me. Heatwole's rationale was hacker justice run amok, or worse, a genuinely risky sort of Russian roulette. (What if the wrong person had found those knives and those matches before the FAA did?) His deed certainly bears no resemblance to civil disobedience within the tradition of passive resistance. It was an act of aggressive vigilantism.

According to the New York Times, Heatwole "keeps his brown hair short and parted." I guess that's supposed to be a cipher for his being earnest and eager. Or obsessive and orderly. Maybe preppy and presentable? He is also a storm-chaser, it was noted--one of those dashing thrill-seekers who jump into jeeps to speed after tornadoes in full tilt. He's a ham radio operator too, always at the center of things when disaster strikes. There's a certain romance in these descriptive details, reiterated by many media outlets as though they legitimized Heatwole's adventurism, as though this really were a test that federal authorities flunked. How ashamed the big guys ought to be! How brave the little upstart!

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