Jill Whalen, owner of HighRankings, publishes a wildly read newsletter named the High Rankings Advisor. In her most recent newsletter, Jill writes an entry named Black Hat/White Hat, which discusses her view on the labels used as well as the techniques performed. I will not comment on an opinionated level here, I rather not get into it now. :)
However, there is a very interesting thread going on at the HighRanking Forum under the title Black Hat/white Hat Article, High Ranking Newsleter, makes for very interesting reading. Enjoy!