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"But 28 short years ago, the term [hacker] hardly existed–that is, until the Max Headroom Incident." That's blatantly incorrect. For example, the movie War Gam

by diego 11y ago

"But 28 short years ago, the term [hacker] hardly existed–that is, until the Max Headroom Incident." That's blatantly incorrect. For example, the movie War Games (pretty mainstream, with Matthew Broderick) is from 1983. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames

jeremyberke 11y ago
Note the term 'hardly existed,' and not 'did not exist at all.' Yes, hackers existed, but the blanket term (in the popular consciousness) for using it to describe the specific subculture of computer hackers developed slowly in the 80's and 90's
bpoag 11y ago
This. You are correct. Like I said -- There's some issues with accuracy in this guy's article, unfortunately. By 1987, people were well aware of what hackers were. Not so much the details, but, the basic concept at least, was well known. I'd say the term entered the public vocabulary by about 1982, with War Games. Truth be told, hacking even garnered some of its own vocabulary from War Games. That's precisely where the "war"- prefix of different discplines comes from, first wardialing, then wardriving. I'm sure there will be more. I'd love to see warfaxing catch on..that's an untapped goldmine of fun. :) I'm trying to think of what such programs were called (programs that searched a given block of lines within a given prefix for any modems set to auto-answer) before War Games. "Hunters", I think. Cheeseball plot aside, as a movie, War Games is, in retrospect a surprisingly accurate portrayl of hacking at the time. The discovery process was slow, laborious, time-consuming, and produced craploads of paper. It was also done by the marginally social, quietly, in relative isolation from others, not as a group, or as the public team sport it is now. The gear Broderick's character was using, even -- By 1982, a box like a toggle driven IMSAI 8080 with an 8" floppy drive and a monochrome monitor would have essentially been throw-away, garbage-quality gear. High-quality systems are superfluous these days, but, for the longest time, most hacking, including back then, was done predominantly on discarded, semi-obsolete, well-worn gear, just as depicted in the film.
- DanBC 11y ago
  Yes. Things like Wargames, and Hugo Cornwall's book (1986) and the Prestel Hack (1985) or Micro Live hack (1983) all raised public conciousness of hackers, at least in the UK.
- kazinator 11y ago
  "Are you a hacker, Kaz? Tsk tsk!" -- Grade 9 Computer teacher, 1985. That was because I had used the word in the positive sense: hobbyist, tinkerer. The hacker-versus-cracker quibble was already festering.
ablation 11y ago
It really is a very poor article.

by diego 11y ago

jeremyberke 11y ago

Note the term 'hardly existed,' and not 'did not exist at all.' Yes, hackers existed, but the blanket term (in the popular consciousness) for using it to describe the specific subculture of computer hackers developed slowly in the 80's and 90's

bpoag 11y ago

This. You are correct. Like I said -- There's some issues with accuracy in this guy's article, unfortunately. By 1987, people were well aware of what hackers were. Not so much the details, but, the basic concept at least, was well known. I'd say the term entered the public vocabulary by about 1982, with War Games. Truth be told, hacking even garnered some of its own vocabulary from War Games. That's precisely where the "war"- prefix of different discplines comes from, first wardialing, then wardriving. I'm sure there will be more. I'd love to see warfaxing catch on..that's an untapped goldmine of fun. :) I'm trying to think of what such programs were called (programs that searched a given block of lines within a given prefix for any modems set to auto-answer) before War Games. "Hunters", I think. Cheeseball plot aside, as a movie, War Games is, in retrospect a surprisingly accurate portrayl of hacking at the time. The discovery process was slow, laborious, time-consuming, and produced craploads of paper. It was also done by the marginally social, quietly, in relative isolation from others, not as a group, or as the public team sport it is now. The gear Broderick's character was using, even -- By 1982, a box like a toggle driven IMSAI 8080 with an 8" floppy drive and a monochrome monitor would have essentially been throw-away, garbage-quality gear. High-quality systems are superfluous these days, but, for the longest time, most hacking, including back then, was done predominantly on discarded, semi-obsolete, well-worn gear, just as depicted in the film.

DanBC 11y ago
Yes. Things like Wargames, and Hugo Cornwall's book (1986) and the Prestel Hack (1985) or Micro Live hack (1983) all raised public conciousness of hackers, at least in the UK.
kazinator 11y ago
"Are you a hacker, Kaz? Tsk tsk!" -- Grade 9 Computer teacher, 1985. That was because I had used the word in the positive sense: hobbyist, tinkerer. The hacker-versus-cracker quibble was already festering.

ablation 11y ago

It really is a very poor article.