Do you think hacker is a negative word? Or that a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and compromises security? You are not to be blamed if you think so, especially when there are news about militaries hacking into computer systems of others. Probably this will answer why people prepend the adjective ethical when they are talking about good hackers.
So yes, the popular perception about a hacker is negative. However, it intended to be something else, a hacker is someone who is on the right side of the law. Read Brian Harvey’s paper to understand the origin and meaning of the term hacker.
The definition I like is the one given by Eric Raymond. I also like the statement in there, which introduces a term called cracker, which is what we call a hacker today, unfortunately. A hacker is ethical, a cracker is not.
The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.
If you read the whole thin on how to become a hacker you will realize there is a close association between hackers and open source.
There is a community, a shared culture, of expert programmers and networking wizards that traces its history back through decades to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet experiments. The members of this culture originated the term ‘hacker’. Hackers built the Internet. Hackers made the Unix operating system what it is today. Hackers run Usenet. Hackers make the World Wide Web work. If you are part of this culture, if you have contributed to it and other people in it know who you are and call you a hacker, you’re a hacker.
Do you see a close association between hackers and open source? Hackers like to understand how systems work and improve on it, to make it solve solutions its makers had not even thought of. Open source enables it. Hackers started open source and open source feeds them enough to get better at it. It is a symbiotic relationship. Open source would not be possible without the spirit of hacker.
Brajeshwar mentions:
Linus Torvalds (the Linux operating system creator) said that Linux hackers work on it because they feel it’s interesting and attractive.
I think a hacker is a dilettante and an amateur, who does whatever he/she does for love and interest. A hacker goes against the norms, not to break, but to innovate. I have met hackers who get a kick out of developing tools to enable others do what they love to do. In software, I believe every professional will benefit by carrying spirit of the hacker. I truly wish that most of my team members are hackers. Paul Graham says:
I know a handful of super-hackers, so I sat down and thought about what they have in common. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program. Ordinary programmers write code to pay the bills. Great hackers think of it as something they do for fun, and which they’re delighted to find people will pay them for.
Next time you read something about a hacker, do not jump to the conclusion that he/she is evil. He/She might be the one behind the tools that let you do what you love to do.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Well, it’s a difficult one. If you read any of Paul Grahams writings he’s always talking about hackers – in the known sense of programmers just doing their thing. The problem is that there are many words that started out with one meaning, but that have ultimately come to mean (in the public perception) something else. As an example, if someone said “That many is gay” these days, there is a big difference to saying exactly the same thing in 1945 when he would be thought of as a very happy chap. Now, some older people could, in theory be up in arms about this saying that the true meaning of the word is the older one, however my own feeling is that we live in a constantly evolving world. If the media have turned the word ‘hacker’ into a negative word through their ignorance then this doesn’t change anything if the public perception is now that. Rather than fighting it and trying to educate people – which I think will never work now as the negative perception of the word is too ingrained – I think its better just to get on with what you’re doing. Some battles are worth fighting, others obviously not
September 4th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
The root of the word hacker is ‘hack’ – that essentially means, well, crack. ‘I hacked that site.’
Until the meaning of that term changes, don’t expect the meaning of hacker to change.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:02 am
I think the media has gotten to Binny V.A.
September 6th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Binny, I think the whole “hack the website” hype itself has given a negative connnotation to hack, not the other way round. Hacking is more about bringing out what is underneath. The difference between hacking and cracking is in the intention.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
[...] Reference [...]
October 31st, 2008 at 2:36 pm
[...] Reference [...]
March 6th, 2009 at 11:39 am
[...] Identifying problems and breaking existing conventions to solve them is one of the best ways to bring about a change. However, our established systems look at these as disruptions and try to put restrictions on them. No wonder hacking has a negative tone to it and we need phrases like ethical hacker. [...]