
Stallman on Hacking - olalonde
http://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html
======
mtkd
I've been coding since the 80s and as far back as I can remember hacking has
always meant breaching security, it wasn't until the 90s that I started
hearing people trying to 'reclaim' the use.

Clearly some tech communities were using it earlier amongst themselves, but
language evolves, expecting the world to use another term is just arrogant.

[http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-VsrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4...](http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-VsrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4tgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2665,4768784&dq=hacker&hl=en)

~~~
tjr
I have here a copy of the first edition of _The Hacker's Dictionary_ ,
published in 1983 (same year as the newspaper article cited).

Under the definition for "hacker", it lists multiple possibilities, including
#7:

 _A malicious or inquisitive meddler who tries to discover information by
poking around. For example, a "password hacker" is one who tries, possibly by
deceptive or illegal means, to discover other people's computer passwords. A
"network hacker" is one who tries to learn about the computer network
(possibly because he wants to improve it or possibly because he wants to
interfere -- one can tell the difference only by context and tone of voice)._

I don't see anything indicating that this was considered a wrong or invalid
definition at the time, just not a primary one.

The current incarnation of _The Hacker's Dictionary_ , perhaps now better
known as the Jargon File, seems fairly direct about the distinction between
hacking and security breaching.

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DanielN
No offense to Stallman, but isn't it the definition of anti-social to be at a
dinner table and proceed to play with everyone else's utensils disregarding
their desire to use them for, you know, eating?

~~~
Estragon
Propriety is not a strong point of his.

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icandoitbetter
Let's apply a single term to everything until it loses all of its meaning!

~~~
acabal
Do you think RMS hacked his lunch by adding a little extra salt?

~~~
chime
Only if adding salt was somehow forbidden, would push the boundaries of known
human experience, or playfully exciting in some way. I do think the Chefs on
Planet Green's Future Food are hackers in their own way:
[http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/future-food/meet-
chefs.h...](http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/future-food/meet-chefs.html)
\- a while ago I saw them cook food with liquid nitrogen and preparing
numerous dishes using nothing but road-side weeds spiked with miracle fruit.

------
mixmax
In the footnotes he proposes that Lady Gaga is a hacker.

The definition is getting a bit shallow isn't it?

~~~
pak
No, he is using it in exactly the sense the article goes to great lengths to
illustrate: approaching any situation by thinking outside of usual
conventions. As far as clothing goes, you can't argue Lady GaGa doesn't think
outside of the box. Some of the items she has turned into clothing probably
took a lot more creativity than finding a way to use three chopsticks in one
hand.

rms' definition of hacking doesn't necessarily involve technology. That was
the whole point of the chopsticks story.

~~~
ErrantX
I always find it a shame to focus on her clothes; she is first and foremost a
music hacker. And a really really good one.

~~~
aeroegnr
A contemporary and more fitting example of a musical hacker would be Imogen
Heap.

I've seen videos of her constructing songs from audio loops of her own voice
in real time.

~~~
ced
Wow, that's quite amazing:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25VGdNU3nrU>

I don't know to what extent some of the stuff is preprogrammed (presumably the
loop lengths are), but it really seems like all the sounds were made during
this one recording.

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erikb
Why do these people always try to convince the world, that their chosen word
has another meaning then everybody knows. Seriously, is that just too hard or
asks for too much playfulness?

Btw to describe a person in German, who is breaking computer based security
systems, you call him a "Hacker".

~~~
vog
_> Why do these people always try to convince the world, that their chosen
word has another meaning then everybody knows._

Historically, the hackers at MIT chose the term "hacker" to simply describe
themselves and other people with a similar attitude. Later, the mass media
misused this term to describe solely criminal actors, which then became the
mainstream understanding of the term.

So the mass media, not the hackers, were using the term with another meaning
than everybody else (at that time).

 _> Seriously, is that just too hard or asks for too much playfulness?_

I'd put it the other way around: Is is just too hard for the mass media or
asks for too much playfulness to respect a (minority) group's self-chosen
name?

 _> Btw to describe a person in German, who is breaking computer based
security systems, you call him a "Hacker"._

Small correction: This is true for the greater part of the German population.
However, within groups like the CCC or FSFE, the term "Hacker" has a much
broader meaning, quite similar to what RMS describes.

In other words: Even in Germany, the people who are usually called "Hacker"
use themselves the term in a broader sense. I think this is simply an
international phenomena.

~~~
erikb
_edit:_ decided to delete all that tl;dr stuff

My point is this: Hackers are still great hackers, if they call themself
differently. And then they would spend considerably more time solving "hard"
problems "playful" instead of discussing about words who actually don't matter
at all.

Mass media calls people whatever makes the most money for them. They are happy
with that. And they have won the masses in this case. So hey, let's go on to
the next fight.

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visakhcr
"You can help correct the misunderstanding simply by making a distinction
between security breaking and hacking—by using the term "cracking" for
security breaking. The people who do it are "crackers". Some of them may also
be hackers, just as some of them may be chess players or golfers; most of them
are not."

Well, in golf, being a hacker is an insult. From
<http://golf.about.com/cs/golfterms/g/bldef_hacker.htm>

Hacker:

A very bad player. Somewhat synonymous with "duffer" in that they both apply
to poor players. But "duffer" is sometimes used to denote weaker players in
general, while "hacker" is often applied to a single golfer as an insult.
Hacker is a little bit stronger than duffer, in other words.

------
danielha
Everything is hacking and so can you.

?

------
Tarski
At lunch yesterday I held my fork in my right hand and knife in my left. I was
very pleased with myself afterwards...

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sukuriant
Is it hacking to do something because you want to call it a hack? Or proclaim
that you're hacking? This sort of practice has sort of peeved me a little. I
may not be a hacker in the proper sense, and perhaps that's my problem, but
when someone thinks to themselves "I wonder if I can make a hack out of this"
in regards to chopsticks, it seems like less of a hack than "I wonder if I can
use all 6 at once!"

The distinction, in my mind, is "intent to hack" vs "intent to
do/achieve/circumvent".

It was such a miniscule part of what he said, but that part sincerely rubbed
me the wrong way :/

~~~
vog
It is the other way round: The term "a hack" appeared after the terms "hacker"
and "hacking".

~~~
sukuriant
"I did not know any way to do that, so I realized that if I could come up with
a way, it would be a hack. I started thinking. After a few seconds I had an
idea." I'm referring to this part, at the very beginning. "I realized that if
I could do this, it'd be a hack". I don't know, it just seemed like he was
trying to do something because it would therefore be called a hack. That's how
I perceived what he said. This is all personal, and that sort of thing rubbed
me the wrong way, as though he was trying to do something just to prove he was
a hacker, not wanting to do something to see if he could and that happening to
be a hack. It's a subtle distinction, but seems to result in very different
things.

And yes, I know this is Richard Stallman we're talking about. There is no
question of his hacker-ness.

