Hacker culture

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For the book, see Hacker Culture.
Not to be confused with Security hacker.

The hacker culture is a

MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[5] Hacking originally involved entering restricted areas in a clever way without causing any major damage. Some famous hacks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were placing of a campus police cruiser on the roof of the Great Dome and converting the Great Dome into R2-D2.[6]

Richard Stallman explains about hackers who program:

What they had in common was mainly love of excellence and programming. They wanted to make their programs that they used be as good as they could. They also wanted to make them do neat things. They wanted to be able to do something in a more exciting way than anyone believed possible and show "Look how wonderful this is. I bet you didn't believe this could be done."[7]

Hackers from this subculture tend to emphatically differentiate themselves from what they pejoratively call "crackers"; those who are generally referred to by media and members of the general public using the term "hacker", and whose primary focus‍—‌be it to malign or for malevolent purposes‍—‌lies in exploiting weaknesses in computer security.[8]

Definition

The Jargon File, an influential but not universally accepted compendium of hacker slang, defines hacker as "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary."[9] The Request for Comments (RFC) 1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, amplifies this meaning as "A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular."[10]

As documented in the Jargon File, these hackers are disappointed by the mass media and general public's usage of the word

black hat hackers"), who use the same skills to author harmful software (such as viruses or trojans) and illegally infiltrate secure systems with the intention of doing harm to the system.[12] The programmer subculture of hackers, in contrast to the cracker community, generally sees computer security-related activities as contrary to the ideals of the original and true meaning of the hacker term, that instead related to playful cleverness.[12]

History

The word "hacker" derives from the Late Middle English words hackere, hakker, or hakkere - one who cuts wood, woodchopper, or woodcutter.[13]

Although the idea of "hacking", in the modern sense, existed long before the modern term "hacker"‍—‌with the most notable example of Lightning Ellsworth[citation needed], it was not a word that the first programmers used to describe themselves. In fact, many of the first programmers were from engineering or physics backgrounds.[citation needed]

"But from about 1945 onward (and especially during the creation of the first ENIAC computer) some programmers realized that their expertise in computer software and technology had evolved not just into a profession, but into a passion" (46).[1]

There was a growing awareness of a style of programming different from the cut and dried methods employed at first,[14][15] but it was not until the 1960s that the term "hackers" began to be used to describe proficient computer programmers. Therefore, the fundamental characteristic that links all who identify themselves as hackers is that each is someone who enjoys "…the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming and circumventing limitations of programming systems and who tries to extend their capabilities" (47).[1] With this definition in mind, it can be clear where the negative implications of the word "hacker" and the subculture of "hackers" came from.

Some common nicknames among this culture include "crackers", who are considered to be unskilled thieves who mainly rely on luck, and "phreaks", which refers to skilled

crackers
and "warez d00dz" (crackers who acquire reproductions of copyrighted software). Hackers who are hired to test security are called "pentesters" or "tiger teams".

Before communications between computers and computer users were as networked as they are now, there were multiple independent and parallel hacker subcultures, often unaware or only partially aware of each other's existence. All of these had certain important traits in common:

  • Creating software and sharing it with each other
  • Placing a high value on freedom of inquiry
  • Hostility to secrecy
  • Information-sharing as both an ideal and a practical strategy
  • Upholding the right to fork
  • Emphasis on rationality
  • Distaste for authority
  • Playful cleverness, taking the serious humorously and humor seriously
emblem of the "hacker community" by Eric S. Raymond[16]

These sorts of subcultures were commonly found at

community drew together a critically large population and encouraged the spread of a conscious, common, and systematic ethos. Symptomatic of this evolution were an increasing adoption of common slang and a shared view of history, similar to the way in which other occupational groups have professionalized themselves, but without the formal credentialing process characteristic of most professional groups.[citation needed
]

Over time, the academic hacker subculture has tended to become more conscious, more cohesive, and better organized. The most important consciousness-raising moments have included the composition of the first

Ken Thompson, Richard M. Stallman, Linus Torvalds, Larry Wall, and Guido van Rossum
.

The concentration of academic hacker subculture has paralleled and partly been driven by the commoditization of computer and networking technology, and has, in turn, accelerated that process. In 1975, hackerdom was scattered across several different families of

TCP/IP phenomenon, and is concentrated around various operating systems based on free software and open-source software
development.

Ethics and principles

Main article: Hacker ethic

Many of the values and tenets of the

MIT[17] and at the Homebrew Computer Club. The hacker ethics were chronicled by Steven Levy in Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution[18]
and in other texts in which Levy formulates and summarizes general hacker attitudes:

Hacker ethics are concerned primarily with sharing, openness, collaboration, and engaging in the hands-on imperative.[18]

Linus Torvalds, one of the leaders of the open source movement (known primarily for developing the Linux kernel), has noted in the book The Hacker Ethic[19] that these principles have evolved from the known Protestant ethics and incorporates the spirits of capitalism, as introduced in the early 20th century by Max Weber.

Hack value is the notion used by hackers to express that something is worth doing or is interesting.[20] This is something that hackers often feel intuitively about a problem or solution.

An aspect of hack value is performing feats for the sake of showing that they can be done, even if others think it is difficult. Using things in a unique way outside their intended purpose is often perceived as having hack value. Examples are using a

dot matrix impact printer to produce musical notes, using a flatbed scanner to take ultra-high-resolution photographs or using an optical mouse as barcode reader
.

A solution or feat has "hack value" if it is done in a way that has finesse, cleverness or brilliance, which makes

exhaustively trying all possibilities
does not. Hacking is not using process of elimination to find a solution; it's the process of finding a clever solution to a problem.

Uses

While using hacker to refer to someone who enjoys playful cleverness is most often applied to computer programmers, it is sometimes used for people who apply the same attitude to other fields.[8] For example, Richard Stallman describes the silent composition 4′33″ by John Cage and the 14th-century palindromic three-part piece "Ma Fin Est Mon Commencement" by Guillaume de Machaut as hacks.[3] According to the Jargon File,[9] the word hacker was used in a similar sense among radio amateurs in the 1950s, predating the software hacking community.

Programming

open source and demoscene. It also has a hacker ethic, based on the idea that writing software and sharing the result on a voluntary basis is a good idea, and that information should be free, but that it's not up to the hacker to make it free by breaking into private computer systems. This hacker ethic was publicized and perhaps originated in Steven Levy's Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
(1984). It contains a codification of its principles.

The programmer subculture of hackers disassociates from the mass media's pejorative use of the word 'hacker' referring to computer security, and usually prefer the term 'cracker' for that meaning. Complaints about supposed mainstream misuse started as early as 1983, when media used "hacker" to refer to the computer criminals involved in The 414s case.[22]

In the programmer subculture of hackers, a computer hacker is a person who enjoys designing software and building programs with a sense for aesthetics and playful cleverness. The term hack in this sense can be traced back to "describe the elaborate college pranks that...students would regularly devise" (Levy, 1984 p. 10). To be considered a 'hack' was an honor among like-minded peers as "to qualify as a hack, the feat must be imbued with innovation, style and technical virtuosity" (Levy, 1984 p. 10) The MIT Tech Model Railroad Club Dictionary defined hack in 1959 (not yet in a computer context) as "1) an article or project without constructive end; 2) a project undertaken on bad self-advice; 3) an entropy booster; 4) to produce, or attempt to produce, a hack(3)", and "hacker" was defined as "one who hacks, or makes them". Much of TMRC's jargon was later imported into early computing culture, because the club started using a DEC PDP-1 and applied its local model railroad slang in this computing context. Initially incomprehensible to outsiders, the slang also became popular in MIT's computing environments beyond the club. Other examples of jargon imported from the club are 'losing' ("when a piece of equipment is not working")[18] and 'munged' ("when a piece of equipment is ruined").[18]

Others did not always view hackers with approval.

MIT living groups in 1989 avoided advertising their sophisticated Project Athena workstations to prospective members because they wanted residents who were interested in people, not computers, with one fraternity member stating that "We were worried about the hacker subculture".[23]

According to Eric S. Raymond,[24] the Open Source and Free Software hacker subculture developed in the 1960s among 'academic hackers'[25] working on early minicomputers in computer science environments in the United States.

Hackers were influenced by and absorbed many ideas of key technological developments and the people associated with them. Most notable is the technical culture of the pioneers of the

open source movement
.

Many programmers have been labeled "great hackers",

Guy L. Steele, Jr.
).

Within the computer programmer subculture of hackers, the term hacker is also used for a programmer who reaches a goal by employing a series of modifications to extend existing

hack
" derives from the everyday English sense "to cut or shape by or as if by crude or ruthless strokes" [Merriam-Webster] and is even used among users of the positive sense of "hacker" who produces "cool" or "neat" hacks. In other words, to "hack" at an original creation, as if with an axe, is to force-fit it into being usable for a task not intended by the original creator, and a "hacker" would be someone who does this habitually. (The original creator and the hacker may be the same person.) This usage is common in both programming, engineering and building. In programming, hacking in this sense appears to be tolerated and seen as a necessary compromise in many situations. Some argue that it should not be, due to this negative meaning; others argue that some kludges can, for all their ugliness and imperfection, still have "hack value".

In non-software engineering, the culture is less tolerant of unmaintainable solutions, even when intended to be temporary, and describing someone as a "hacker" might imply that they lack professionalism. In this sense, the term has no real positive connotations, except for the idea that the hacker is capable of doing modifications that allow a system to work in the short term, and so has some sort of marketable skills. However, there is always the understanding that a more skillful or technical logician could have produced successful modifications that would not be considered a "hack-job". The definition is similar to other, non-computer based uses of the term "hack-job". For instance, a professional modification of a production sports car into a racing machine would not be considered a hack-job, but a cobbled together backyard mechanic's result could be. Even though the outcome of a race of the two machines could not be assumed, a quick inspection would instantly reveal the difference in the level of professionalism of the designers. The adjective associated with hacker is "hackish" (see the

Jargon file
).

In a very universal sense, hacker also means someone who makes things work beyond perceived limits in a clever way in general, without necessarily referring to computers, especially at MIT.

media hackers ("hack your reputation"). In a similar vein, a "hack" may refer to a math
hack, that is, a clever solution to a mathematical problem. All of these uses have spread beyond MIT.

Ethical Hacking

COS Online defined ethical hacking as going into devices and computer systems belonging to an organization, with its explicit permissions, to assess and test the efficacy of the organization's cybersecurity defenses. Generally, organizations engage the services of ethical hackers either through third-party cybersecurity firms or under contract. Their main job is to identify and fix security gaps before threat-actors find them and exploit them. This proactive approach to cybersecurity testing leads to significant cost savings for organizations.

Ethical hacking is the process of software engines running real-world cyber threats to assess the survivability of a company's digital structure. Ethical hackers play the role of cyber attackers by executing assessments, penetration tests, and modeling tactics, techniques, and procedures used by threat-actors. This careful examination provides an organization with the identification of weaknesses in its security systems, enabling the organization to employ necessary measures towards fortifying its defense.

Cyber-attacks can have significant financial implications for a company. On average, a successful cyber-attack may cost a large organization as much as $8,640,000. In such cases, the organizations could have been saved from these gigantic financial losses by identifying and fixing the vulnerabilities discovered by an ethical hacker. Moreover, for smaller organizations, the impact can be even more dramatic as it can potentially save the business's very existence.

Furthermore, the act of ethical hacking also molds the larger hacker culture. Hacking skills, traditionally associated with breaking the law, have changed dramatically with the emergence of ethical hacking. Ethical hacking helped legitimize hacking skills which can now be talked about publicly. This shift challenges the stereotypical perception of hackers as criminals, allowing for greater emphasis on their positive contributions to cybersecurity. Ethical hacking has drastically changed the public perception of hackers. Rather than viewing persons with hacker skills as perpetrators of cybercrime, they can be viewed as part of the solution in fighting against cybercrime. The ethical hacker with knowledge and expertise stands as guardian to the digital assets, working beforehand alongside organizations to build up a more secure online landscape.

Ethical hacking is not only a proactive defense for organizations but also brings about the desired cultural revolution within the realm of the hacking fraternity. Ethical hacking, on its part through focusing on the constructive application of hacking skills, has become an integral activity in the collective effort towards fortification of cybersecurity and redefining hackers' image in the public eye.

Home computing enthusiasts

Main article: Hacking of consumer electronics

In yet another context, a hacker is a computer hobbyist who pushes the limits of software or hardware. The home computer hacking subculture relates to the hobbyist home computing of the late 1970s, beginning with the availability of

MITS Altair. An influential organization was the Homebrew Computer Club. However, its roots go back further to amateur radio enthusiasts. The amateur radio slang referred to creatively tinkering to improve performance as "hacking" already in the 1950s.[30]

A large overlaps between hobbyist hackers and the programmer subculture hackers existed during the Homebrew Club's days, but the interests and values of both communities somewhat diverged. Today, the hobbyists focus on commercial

demo scene). Also of interest to some members of this group is the modification of computer hardware and other electronic devices, see modding
.

DIY musician probes the circuit board of a synthesizer for "bends"
using a jeweler's screwdriver and alligator clips.

Electronics hobbyists working on machines other than computers also fall into this category. This includes people who do simple modifications to graphing calculators, video game consoles, electronic musical keyboards or other device (see CueCat for a notorious example) to expose or add functionality to a device that was unintended for use by end users by the company who created it. A number of techno musicians have modified 1980s-era Casio SK-1 sampling keyboards to create unusual sounds by doing circuit bending: connecting wires to different leads of the integrated circuit chips. The results of these DIY experiments range from opening up previously inaccessible features that were part of the chip design to producing the strange, dis-harmonic digital tones that became part of the techno music style. Companies take different attitudes towards such practices, ranging from open acceptance (such as

Blu-ray Disc players designed to sabotage compromised players.[citation needed
])

In this context, a "hack" refers to a program that (sometimes illegally) modifies another program, often a video game, giving the user access to features otherwise inaccessible to them. As an example of this use, for Palm OS users (until the 4th iteration of this operating system), a "hack" refers to an extension of the operating system which provides additional functionality. Term also refers to those people who cheat on video games using special software. This can also refer to the jailbreaking of iPhones.

Hacker artists

See also: Fractal art, algorithmic art, and interactive art

Hacker artists create

artistic medium. This has extended the definition of the term and what it means to be a hacker. Such artists may work with graphics, computer hardware, sculpture, music and other audio, animation, video, software, simulations, mathematics, reactive sensory systems, text, poetry, literature
, or any combination thereof.

Dartmouth College musician Larry Polansky states:

Technology and art are inextricably related. Many musicians, video artists, graphic artists, and even poets who work with technology—whether designing it or using it—consider themselves to be part of the 'hacker community.' Computer artists, like non-art hackers, often find themselves on society's fringes, developing strange, innovative uses of existing technology. There is an empathetic relationship between those, for example, who design experimental music software and hackers who write communications freeware.[31]

Another description is offered by Jenny Marketou:

Hacker artists operate as culture hackers who manipulate existing techno-semiotic structures towards a different end, to get inside cultural systems on the net and make them do things they were never intended to do.[32]

A successful software and hardware hacker artist is

LED
lights.

cellular automata computer program, generates objects which randomly bump into each other and in turn create more objects and designs, similar to a lava lamp, except that the parts change color and form through interaction. Hopkins Says:

Cellular automata are simple rules that are applied to a grid of cells, or the pixel values of an image. The same rule is applied to every cell, to determine its next state, based on the previous state of that cell and its neighboring cells. There are many interesting cellular automata rules, and they all look very different, with amazing animated dynamic effects. 'Life

' is a widely known cellular automata rule, but many other lesser known rules are much more interesting.

Some hacker artists create art by writing computer code, and others, by developing hardware. Some create with existing software tools such as

GIMP
.

The creative process of hacker artists can be more abstract than artists using non-technological media. For example, mathematicians have produced visually stunning graphic presentations of fractals, which hackers have further enhanced, often producing detailed and intricate graphics and animations from simple mathematical formulas.

  • Bubbles was created using watercolors, then scanned into a computer. Colors were then manipulated using a software imaging tool.
    Bubbles was created using watercolors, then scanned into a computer. Colors were then manipulated using a software imaging tool.
  • Sunrise was created using pen and ink, then scanned into a computer and colored with a software imaging tool.
    Sunrise was created using pen and ink, then scanned into a computer and colored with a software imaging tool.
  • Rolling Golden Hills of California was created using pencil, scanned, and then painted with a software imaging tool.
    Rolling Golden Hills of California was created using pencil, scanned, and then painted with a software imaging tool.
  • Barnsley's fern, a fractal fern computed using an iterated function system
    Barnsley's fern, a fractal fern computed using an iterated function system
  • A fractal that models the surface of a mountain
    A fractal that models the surface of a mountain

Art

Hacker art mentions

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0742542335
    .
  2. ^ a b The Hacker Community and Ethics: An Interview with Richard M. Stallman, 2002 Archived 2021-03-07 at the Wayback Machine (gnu.org)
  3. ^ a b c Stallman, Richard (2002). "On Hacking". Archived from the original on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  4. ^ "TMRC – Hackers". Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
  5. Stallman, Richard M. "Words to Avoid (or Use with Care) Because They Are Loaded or Confusing". GNU.org. Free Software Foundation. Archived
    from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  6. ^ "IHTFP Hack Gallery: Hacks on the Great Dome (Bldg. 10)". hacks.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
  7. Hackers – Wizards of the Electronic Age
  8. ^ a b Raymond, Eric (2008-01-08). "How To Become A Hacker". Thyrsus Enterprises. Archived from the original on 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  9. ^ a b Raymond, Eric, ed. (2003-12-29). "hacker". Jargon File (version 4.4.7 ed.). Archived from the original on 2017-05-28. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  10. ^ Internet Users' Glossary Archived 2008-06-02 at the Wayback Machine (Request for Comments 1392), January 1993
  11. S2CID 252096635.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  12. ^ a b [1] Archived 2011-08-05 at the Wayback Machine Definition of "Cracker" in the Jargon File
  13. ^ "Hacker Etymology". 16 November 2023. Archived from the original on 20 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  14. ISBN 978-0-521-27724-2. Archived
    from the original on 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  15. ^ "A History of Modern Computing". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-05-27. Retrieved 2017-08-29. During the time one of these machines read a card, it could execute a sequence of up to forty-eight steps. More complex sequences-within-sequences were also possible. One computer scientist later noted that this method of programming demanded the kind of detailed design of parallel subsequencing that one sees nowadays at the microprogramming level of some computers.
  16. ^ "Glider Emblem FAQ". 22 May 2014. Archived from the original on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  17. ^ "The Hacker's Ethics". Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  18. ^
    ISBN 0-385-19195-2
  19. ISBN 0-436-20550-5
    .
  20. ^ Definition of 'hack value' Archived 2011-08-05 at the Wayback Machine in the Jargon File
  21. ^ Dyer, Richard (1984-05-06). "Masters of the Game". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 1997-06-07.
  22. ^ Joe Wilson (19 September 1983). "for hack ( er ) s who want to complain to CBS". Newsgroup: net.misc. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  23. ^ Garfinkel, Simson L. (Feb–Mar 1989). "Students Log on to ATHENA" (PDF). Technology Review. pp. 7–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  24. ^ Eric S.Raymond: A Brief History of Hackerdom Archived 2015-12-20 at the Wayback Machine (2000)
  25. ^ Raymond, Eric Steven (19 September 2003). "Reasons to Believe". The Art of Unix Programming. Addison-Wesley. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  26. Graham, Paul (2004). "Great Hackers". Archived
    from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  27. ^ Eric Steven Raymond (2001). "What Is a Hacker?". How To Become A Hacker. Thyrsus Enterprises. Archived from the original on 2006-12-19. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  28. ^ "MIT Gallery of Hacks". Hacks.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 2008-11-07. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  29. ^ "IHTFP Hack Gallery: CP Car on the Great Dome". Hacks.mit.edu. 1994-05-09. Archived from the original on 2013-11-28. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
  30. ^ hacker. Archived from the original on 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2008-10-18. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  31. ^ Singing Together, Hacking Together, Plundering Together: Sonic Intellectual Property in Cybertimes by Larry Polansky
  32. Thing.net. 2000-07-25. Archived
    from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2011-07-01.

Further reading

The Jargon File has had a role in acculturating hackers since its origins in 1975.[citation needed] These academic and literary works helped shape the academic hacker subculture:[citation needed]

External links

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