Basic Steps of Hacker or Ethical Hacker

[TanMan]

Hacking itself is not a crime unless it's for purposes that breach trust or law

This is not exactly true. The DMCA (ugly piece of crap that it is) made it illegal to decrypt or even disassemble something that you're not authorized to. So in the U.S., it is actually illegal to reverse engineer something. Not that anyone has been tried for it, but it does remain illegal. It's even illegal to use technology for anything not allowed in their terms of service.

And it is illegal to download any copyrighted material. Again, no one has been tried for it, but it remains illegal.

And sorry to say, in the U.S., there is no such thing as "ethical" hacking. Gaining entry to a website that you are not authorized to access is illegal, whether you do it for ethical reasons or not. If the company ASKS you to do penetration testing, that's ok. But if they don't ask you, it's illegal.