Dictionary.com’s Definition
hack?er (hāk’ər) Pronunciation Key
n. Informal
1. One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff.
2. One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file.
This is a beef of mine that often times gets me a little annoyed at the Media. The Media always ignores the origins and meaning of this word.
Due to the popularity of a movie the Media and the general public has taken this otherwise noble word and turned it into a thing of theft, deceit, and outright unlawfulness.
The term has been around for many many years but not until the early 90s did it transform into what it is today.
Its modern origins can be traced to ‘kiddies’ who yearned to be as knowledgeable as other, more talented, computer users. These kids quickly realized that gaining the skills and talent to become as proficient as computer ‘hackers’ (def 1 above) was too hard. Once this was realized, these kids searched for any way to prove these nonexistent skills.
As computers and the Internet were still very young, there were several easy to exploit vulnerabilities in all sorts of software. Some moderately talented programmers would wrap some of these methods into a simple, easy to use package or application. Once these applications got into the hands of the masses, the revolution had begun. Kids with something to prove were hitting ‘go’ or ‘crack’ mercilessly and compromising or in most cases merely just slowing down their target. But that was enough.
It only took minutes for the first kid to call himself a ‘hacker’ (def 2 above) and then brag on IM or IRC about shutting down his arch rival’s computer from across town. Of course his little buddies couldn’t be outdone. They searched and found the same applications and wreaked havoc all over the net. As vulnerabilities were patched, so were the so called ‘hacker’ applications and thus the spiral began.
As more and more kids got their hands on these applications, most of whom had no clue what the application was in fact doing, the market became saturated with so called ‘hackers.’ They bragged to their friends at school, online, and even their parents, all the while giving the term ‘hacker’ a bad name.
The real thieves, cheats, and general evil-does, were called by a simple other name. ‘Cracker.’ Because that is what they did. They cracked, or broke security measures to gain access to otherwise privileged information or systems. No self respecting ‘cracker’ would call themselves a ‘hacker’ or anything at all for that matter. The whole purpose is to be anonymous. Those who got caught were largely those that bragged to their friends or those who didn’t know what they were doing and ended up leaving a nice trail with neon signs for the trained specialists to follow back to their doorstep.
The term ‘hacker’ can apply to many things. It varies from ‘hacking together a mouse-trap,’ ‘hacking together a transceiver out of spare parts,’ or even ‘hacking some code’ to do something other than what was intended. It can also be a term of degradation. “What a hack!” “He’s just a hack on the golf course”
A ‘hacker’ (def 1 above) is someone who is extremely proficient in what they do. This musn’t apply only to computers or electronics. Several Amateur Radio operators consider themselves hackers. Many auto mechanics and race engine builders are classified as hackers.
In the computer sense, a ‘hacker’ is someone who knows about or understands the inner workings of code, memory instructions, or data, in such a way that he can alter its function to do something other than intended. This can certainly be something malicious, but more times than not, its simply extending the ability of something beyond its author’s intent. A good example is hacking an iPod run Linux.
As big business and the Media sensationalize the term ‘hacking’ or ‘hacker,’ as someone who commits crimes or generally does bad things in regards to computers and technology, (ie “Hackers defeat DRM protection” “Hackers pirate movies” “Hackers attacked government computers” etc etc) the original meaning is lost. Only do those in the know or people who come from a background where the term was used in its original meaning and context understand.
This is my plight. Use the term correctly or don’t use it at all.
I won’t even get into the whole “hat” rationalization of the term with ‘white hats’ ‘black hats’ and even ‘gray hats.’ Maybe I’ll touch on that in a later post.
