Stephanie over in GD has nailed down the reason why they hacked the Google:

[originalpckelly]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4950152#4950180

When mike_c, another DUer went to look at similar results on the page, it brought up "interstitial" in the search box. An interstitial page is defined as:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstitial_webpage

So it sounds like this was intentional hacking with a purpose. I feel bad for the people who did it, because they will be prosecuted under the anti-hacking laws. While most hacking is harmless money wise, this did probably cause Google to lose ad revenue for a while worldwide, which is bound to be a big bill. At least a million.

On the other hand, the hackers may be able to claim that Google started the whole thing by labeling their site malware.

[City of Mills]

1. The only good that came of it

Fun photoshop opportunities :)

[Deja Q]

2. As long as their hacking didn't introduce a new virus into the wild for all of us to... "enjoy"

I can't feel bad for the people who did it, just to release and spread it.

[originalpckelly]

3. True...

but I don't think that happened. You would have to download a file.

This looks like it had a point of protesting against Google, and nothing more. Though time will tell.