Kassem 1

Hassan Kassem

ENG 1020

Professor Andrea Silva

March 7, 2008

Are you a hacker? Yes? No?

When the word hacker first comes to your mind, what do you think of it? A geek who is

trying to break into my system and steal my personal information, or a computer buff who is

brilliant at computer programming? I am ninety nine percent sure you thought of the first one

right? Well I am not trying to judge your thinking but what this article is all about is clearing the

controversies on the meaning and the usage of this word. You hear the word on the news, see it

on a computer magazine cover, or most likely read it on a website while surfing the internet. In

this article, I would like to clarify the word hacker and possibly explain what the real meaning

of a hacker is.

First let us define what hacker means. According to Merriam-Webster online

dictionary, a hacker is an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer, or, a

person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer

system1. However, there is also another meaning of the word hacker which defines a person

who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity. 1 I will not be talking about the third

definition but I will be discussing the controversies regarding the first two.
 Kassem 2

The first definition explains that a hacker is a computer genius. If you ask somebody in

the computer community they will most probably agree with you, however if you suggest the

second definition they might get offended. Bob Bickford has defined a hacker as any person

who derives joy from discovering ways to circumvent limitations. 2(MicroTimes, 1986.) The

hacker, in this case, is not intending to do any harm. He is using his talents and abilities to

overcome restrictions that are imposed on him by not being given permission to access a

certain system. If the hackers intentions are to disrupt system security and inflict damage then

a hacker would be defined as computer criminal.

Hackers have created their own world of computing and have their ideals to how the

internet should work. Some are just bored of school, feeling Im smarter than most of the

other kids, this crap they teach us bores me3 (Mentor, p 70) while others feel that it is their

duty to expose to the public the governments concealment of personal information of the

individual. Hackers nowadays are considered as intruders who have penetrated our privacy to

use it for their own benefits; however, they all consider themselves capable of doing the

impossible and believe that information should be shared and conversely, not owned. In an

article by Brian Harvey, he states that

Richard Stallman says that information should be given out freely, his opinion is not

based on a notion of property as theft, which (right or wrong) would be an ethical

position. His argument is that keeping information secret is inefficient, it leads to

unaesthetic duplication of effort.4

 Kassem 3

The second definition of a hacker explains that a hacker is any person who tries to steal

information from a computer. The media today focuses on hackers as people as such. They have

come to know hackers as computer criminals who steal information or who invade government

or company security for the purpose of creating havoc. Perhaps one of the famous computer

hackers of all time is Kevin Mitnick, a convicted criminal in the United States. He has used the

Los Angeles bus transfer system to get free rides 5 (Mitnick), hacked into Motorola, NEC, Nokia,

Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu Siemens systems (2600 Magazine) 6 and has even evaded the FBI

(2600 Magazine)6.

The hacker definition controversy occurs when people try to define who a hacker is and

what he does. In the computing community, a person is complemented when the title hacker

is given to him due to his brilliant programming skills while he is disparaged in the public

community considering him a convicted criminal. As a result, the definition of a hacker is an

issue of controversy. The positive connotation of the word was widely accepted in the past,

however, today, the negative connotation prevails as the public and the media sees hackers as

trespassers that should be prosecuted.

According to Brian Harvey, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, a

computer hacker, then, is someone who lives and breathes computer, who knows all about

computers, who can get a computer to do anything. 7 (Harvey) A true hacker cant just sit

around all night; he must pursue some hobby with dedication and flair. It can be telephones, or

railroads, or science fiction random 7 In an another article he states that what really makes a

hacker is his aspiration to be a superuser, that is, with privileged account.

 Kassem 4

So what does a hacker really mean? Is he a good guy or a bad guy? As we have seen,

the hacker controversy is a big issue that cannot be easily settled. Since we defined the word

hacker, we can distinguish between three types of hackers. White-hat hackers are hackers

Also known as friendly hackers always using their knowledge for good reasons, [they]

usually end up working as high-paid network admin, programmers, and security

consultants.8

The second type of hackers is Grey-hat hackers are borderline white/black hats. They

sometimes prank unsuspecting users and cause general mayhem. 8 The last type of hackers is

Black-hat hackers

Also known as crackers these are the ones to watch out for, they send and make

viruses, destroy data, and deface websites along with other illegal activity and breaking

into peoples machines.8

To conclude, hacker is a word that will always have a controversial definition between

different communities, however, the negative and pejorative connotation will almost always

have the wider dominance. The majority of people will be defining it as a computer criminal

while the other minority will define it as a computer buff.

 Kassem 5

Works Cited

1: "Hacker - Definition From the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary." Merriam-

Webster. 7 Mar. 2008 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hacker>.

2: "The Art of Technology Digest." 7 Mar. 2008

<http://www.mirrors.wiretapped.net/security/info/textfiles/aotd/AOTD-1.txt>.

3: Mentor, The. (1986). Hacker's Manifesto, or The Conscience of a Hacker. In Victor J.

Vitanza (Ed.), CyberReader (pp. 70-71). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

4: Harvey, Brian. "What is a Hacker?" 1985. University of California, Berkeley. 7 Mar. 2008

<http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/hacker.html>

5: Mitnick, Kevin D. The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security.

Indianapolis: Wiley, 2002.

6: "2600 Live Mitnick Interview." 2600 Magazine. 7 Mar. 2008

<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8690427088949208642&q=mitnick>.

7: Harvey, Brian. "A Case Study: the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School." 1985. University of

California, Berkeley. 7 Mar. 2008 <http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/lsrhs.html>.

8: Fryman, John. "Types of Hackers." 14 Mar. 2008

<http://www.freewebs.com/johnfryman/hacker.html>.