
Legendary Hackers (2010) - avinassh
http://www.autistici.org/rez/hackers.php
======
AceJohnny2
List last updated in 2010.

I believe Fabrice Bellard deserves to be added.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrice_Bellard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabrice_Bellard)

In short, created LZEXE at 17, went on the create QEMU (general CPU emulator,
also used as a frontend of KVM), and FFMPEG (which pretty much every open-
source (and many not) multimedia app uses).

Less famous, but still quite the accomplishment, are jsLinux, the first in-
browser full Linux emulator, at one point holding the record for calculating
the most digits of Pi (using a desktop computer!), creating the first software
4G LTE base station (that runs on a standard PC), and more.

~~~
jsnk
I want to nominate John Carmack.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack)

~~~
Forbo
I would nominate Jacob Appelbaum and Moxie Marlinspike.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Appelbaum)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie_Marlinspike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie_Marlinspike)

------
formerhacker97
I was surprised to see someone on the list that I used to know. Around
1996-1998 I knew Ehud Tenenbaum (Analyzer) from Undernet IRC.

When I knew him, he was a standard script kiddie. He had rudimentary
programming skills and only used exploit code (buffer overflow, race
condition, etc) that others wrote. Basically he collected exploits, ran them
against servers, used the hacked servers to sniff network packets to get more
passwords as well as to scan additional systems. He would spend probably 80%
of each day doing this.

Unlike many hackers that would secure the systems they hacked into, he had a
habit of putting a root privileged shell onto a high port with inetd. He lost
a lot of systems to other hackers because of this. Since he "owned" hundreds
of systems at any one time, it never seemed to bother him much though.

The fact that he is on the "legendary hacker" list makes me believe a better
name for it might be, "sloppy hackers that got caught" list.

Excuse the throw-away. While the statute of limitations is probably a decade
past for me I don't like to take chances.

------
Elizer0x0309
Add John Carmack
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carmack)
Single handedly inspired legions of coders to join the fold with his 3d
democratization.

------
ChuckMcM
Interesting that Kevin is on that list, Kevin, Bob, and Mark were the three
who were some of the first indicted using federal hacking laws [1]. Bob took a
plea, Mark plead innocent and eventually they just dropped the case, and Kevin
ran away, to be caught later.

[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/us/hacker-indicted-on-
spy-...](http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/us/hacker-indicted-on-spy-
charges.html)

------
cinsk
I want to nominate Jamie Zawinski, for his great work on Mozilla, XEmacs,
XScreensaver, etc.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski)

------
drallison
The list of notables is way longer. I am surprised that Bill Gates and Paul
Allen were missing. And Aaron Swartz. And Paul Graham. And ....

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Bill Gates, a hacker? Never. He wrote bad code and marketed it aggressively.

------
throwawayaway
is "autistici" a plural of "austistic"?

it's interesting that registering it as a domain seems to be a way of
reclaiming something that is becoming derogatory - as a badge of honour
instead. like civil rights movements.

~~~
Dewie
Manifesto:

> We called ourselves Autistici, instead, for the passion we have for
> understanding the technical tools and for exposing the politics implicit in
> the digital world; even if software is created in a virtual world it doesn't
> mean it doesn't have a political impact on reality. Starting from the
> technical tools we use we came to develop a clear array of political
> stances, crucial to both cyber and material world and lives: privacy,
> anonymity, free sharing of knowledge just to mention a few.

...

> Autism with invention generates sharing

So uh, yeah, that actually seems to kind of be the case. Inasmuch as "passion
for understanding technical tools" is about autism.

[http://www.autistici.org/en/who/manifesto.html](http://www.autistici.org/en/who/manifesto.html)

~~~
throwawayaway
thanks for that!

i find it fascinating that it's become so hopelessly broad now that a group
have felt the need to do that.

maybe they are taking the piss, but i don't think so.

EDIT: ...and they did so in 2002? they must have seen the whole thing coming a
mile off.

the etymology is interesting anyway.

[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&searc...](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=autism)

------
simplicio
Yea, Dennis Ritchie is alive again!

~~~
xxs
He may not walk the Earth but he will be alive in many hearts. It also stoke
me that his death was not noticed there.

------
blfr
Perfect list for naming servers.

------
teqdruid
This list is missing Tridge!

------
pudo
This should be a document of shame to us as a community. There's not a single
woman or person of color on this page, from what I can tell.

We're doing something seriously wrong.

~~~
jes
I'm a white, 55 year old software engineer. I've been hacking since I was
maybe 15 or 16 years old.

I don't think I've done anything to keep women or people of color down, or
from entering this field.

Do you think I should feel shame, and if so, for what?

~~~
throwawayaway
that's an interesting approach, to just ask!

perhaps the question would be better directed at female colleagues former and
present using an anonymous submission system like wikileaks set up, and
newspapers currently use.

i have a feeling though it would be seen as narcissistic.

