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"The term “hacker” has morphed in meaning over the years. It started off as a way to describe folks trying to circumvent computer security (and it still is), th

"The term “hacker” has morphed in meaning over the years. It started off as a way to describe folks trying to circumvent computer security (and it still is), then it became more of a pop-culture reference to web developers in general (still is), and today a term that’s frequently appending other types of specialties and industies." Stopped reading here. But then read it anyway, so I could see where it was going. I think that; if you go ahead and read a book like Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution you'll find that the only definition in the article that wasn't there at the start (Or at least implied, replacing the 'web developer' Jab with 'good computer programmer'.) is the security one. A lot of the coolest hacks done by MIT hackers on their surface had nothing to do with computers, besides a computer being tangentially involved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28programmer_subculture...

ZephyrP 14y ago
Lets not be so quick to forget that the term hacker originally meant... someone messing around with other people's computer systems without their permission before it took on the benign connotation among computer enthusiasts[1]. The antedating of the term hacker is really quite something. [1] http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306B&L=ads-l&P=R5831&m=24290 http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306B&...
- unimpressive 14y ago
  It originally meant a lot of things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28term%29#Overlaps_and_differences[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28term%29#Overlaps_and_... [1]: "The main basic difference between programmer subculture and computer security hackers is their mostly separate historical origin and development. However, the Jargon File reports that considerable overlap existed for the early phreaking at the beginning of the 1970s. An article from MIT's student paper The Tech used the term hacker in this context already in 1963 in its pejorative meaning for someone messing with the phone system.[10] The overlap quickly started to break when people joined in the activity who did it in a less responsible way.[28] This was the case after the publication of an article exposing the activities of Draper and Engressias." - Wikipedia; Tue Nov 6 16:27:58 PST 2012

ZephyrP 14y ago

Lets not be so quick to forget that the term hacker originally meant... someone messing around with other people's computer systems without their permission before it took on the benign connotation among computer enthusiasts[1]. The antedating of the term hacker is really quite something. [1] http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306B&L=ads-l&P=R5831&m=24290 http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306B&...

unimpressive 14y ago
It originally meant a lot of things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28term%29#Overlaps_and_differences[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_%28term%29#Overlaps_and_... [1]: "The main basic difference between programmer subculture and computer security hackers is their mostly separate historical origin and development. However, the Jargon File reports that considerable overlap existed for the early phreaking at the beginning of the 1970s. An article from MIT's student paper The Tech used the term hacker in this context already in 1963 in its pejorative meaning for someone messing with the phone system.[10] The overlap quickly started to break when people joined in the activity who did it in a less responsible way.[28] This was the case after the publication of an article exposing the activities of Draper and Engressias." - Wikipedia; Tue Nov 6 16:27:58 PST 2012