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Hackers & crackers
hacker /n./ [originally, someone who makes furniture with an
axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable
systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most
users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who
programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys
programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A
person capable of appreciating {hack value}. 4. A person who is
good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program,
or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix
hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who
fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One
might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the
intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing
limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to
discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password
hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is
{cracker}.
The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global
community defined by the net. It also implies that the person described
is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see
{hacker ethic}).
It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe
oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an
elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new
members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego
satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if
you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled
bogus). See also {wannabee}.
hacker ethic /n./ 1. The belief that information-sharing
is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of
hackers to share their expertise by writing free software and
facilitating access to information and to computing resources
wherever possible. 2. The belief that system-cracking for fun and
exploration is ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no
theft, vandalism, or breach of confidentiality.
Both of these normative ethical principles are widely, but by no
means universally, accepted among hackers. Most hackers subscribe
to the hacker ethic in sense 1, and many act on it by writing and
giving away free software. A few go further and assert that
*all* information should be free and *any* proprietary
control of it is bad; this is the philosophy behind the {GNU}
project.
Sense 2 is more controversial: some people consider the act of
cracking itself to be unethical, like breaking and entering. But
the belief that `ethical' cracking excludes destruction at least
moderates the behavior of people who see themselves as `benign'
crackers (see also {samurai}). On this view, it may be one of
the highest forms of hackerly courtesy to (a) break into a system,
and then (b) explain to the sysop, preferably by email from a
{superuser} account, exactly how it was done and how the hole
can be plugged -- acting as an unpaid (and unsolicited) {tiger
team}.
The most reliable manifestation of either version of the hacker
ethic is that almost all hackers are actively willing to share
technical tricks, software, and (where possible) computing
resources with other hackers. Huge cooperative networks such as
{Usenet}, {FidoNet} and Internet (see {Internet address})
can function without central control because of this trait; they
both rely on and reinforce a sense of community that may be
hackerdom's most valuable intangible asset.
hack value /n./ Often adduced as the reason or motivation for
expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being
that the accomplished goal is a hack. For example, MacLISP had
features for reading and printing Roman numerals, which were
installed purely for hack value. See {display hack} for one
method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be
explained, only experienced. As Louis Armstrong once said when
asked to explain jazz: "Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know."
(Feminists please note Fats Waller's explanation of rhythm: "Lady,
if you got to ask, you ain't got it.")
GNU /gnoo/, *not* /noo/ 1. [acronym: `GNU's Not
Unix!', see {{recursive acronym}}] A Unix-workalike development
effort of the Free Software Foundation headed by Richard Stallman
. GNU EMACS and the GNU C compiler, two
tools designed for this project, have become very popular in
hackerdom and elsewhere. The GNU project was designed partly to
proselytize for RMS's position that information is community
property and all software source should be shared. One of its
slogans is "Help stamp out software hoarding!" Though this
remains controversial (because it implicitly denies any right of
designers to own, assign, and sell the results of their labors),
many hackers who disagree with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to
produce large amounts of high-quality software for free
redistribution under the Free Software Foundation's imprimatur.
See {EMACS}, {copyleft}, {General Public Virus},
{Linux}. 2. Noted Unix hacker John Gilmore ,
founder of Usenet's anarchic alt.* hierarchy.
cracker /n./ One who breaks security on a system. Coined
ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of
{hacker} (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish
`worm' in this sense around 1981--82 on Usenet was largely a
failure.
Use of both these neologisms reflects a strong revulsion against
the theft and vandalism perpetrated by cracking rings. While it is
expected that any real hacker will have done some playful cracking
and knows many of the basic techniques, anyone past {larval
stage} is expected to have outgrown the desire to do so except for
immediate, benign, practical reasons (for example, if it's
necessary to get around some security in order to get some work
done).
Thus, there is far less overlap between hackerdom and crackerdom
than the {mundane} reader misled by sensationalistic journalism
might expect. Crackers tend to gather in small, tight-knit, very
secretive groups that have little overlap with the huge, open
poly-culture this lexicon describes; though crackers often like to
describe *themselves* as hackers, most true hackers consider
them a separate and lower form of life.
Ethical considerations aside, hackers figure that anyone who can't
imagine a more interesting way to play with their computers than
breaking into someone else's has to be pretty {losing}. Some
other reasons crackers are looked down on are discussed in the
entries on {cracking} and {phreaking}. See also
{samurai}, {dark-side hacker}, and {hacker ethic}. For a
portrait of the typical teenage cracker, see {warez
d00dz}.
cracking /n./ The act of breaking into a computer system;
what a {cracker} does. Contrary to widespread myth, this does
not usually involve some mysterious leap of hackerly brilliance,
but rather persistence and the dogged repetition of a handful of
fairly well-known tricks that exploit common weaknesses in the
security of target systems. Accordingly, most crackers are only
mediocre hackers.
dark-side hacker /n./ A criminal or malicious hacker; a
{cracker}. From George Lucas's Darth Vader, "seduced by the
dark side of the Force". The implication that hackers form a sort
of elite of technological Jedi Knights is intended. Oppose
{samurai}.
samurai /n./ A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs,
snooping for factions in corporate political fights, lawyers
pursuing privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other
parties with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith.
In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a loose-knit
culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems, mostly
bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves
explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the "net
cowboys" of William Gibson's {cyberpunk} novels. Those
interviewed claim to adhere to a rigid ethic of loyalty to their
employers and to disdain the vandalism and theft practiced by
criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the hacker ethic;
some quote Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of Five Rings", a classic
of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles.
warez d00dz /weirz doodz/ /n./ A substantial subculture of
{cracker}s refer to themselves as `warez d00dz'; there is
evidently some connection with {B1FF} here. As `Ozone Pilot',
one former warez d00d, wrote:
Warez d00dz get illegal copies of copyrighted software. If it
has copy protection on it, they break the protection so the
software can be copied. Then they distribute it around the world
via several gateways. Warez d00dz form badass group names like
RAZOR and the like. They put up boards that distribute the
latest ware, or pirate program. The whole point of the Warez
sub-culture is to get the pirate program released and distributed
before any other group. I know, I know. But don't ask, and it
won't hurt as much. This is how they prove their poweress [sic].
It gives them the right to say, "I released King's Quest IVXIX
before you so obviously my testicles are larger." Again don't
ask...
The studly thing to do if one is a warez d00d, it appears, is emit
`0-day warez', that is copies of commercial software copied and
cracked on the same day as its retail release. Warez d00ds also
hoard software in a big way, collecting untold megabytes of
arcade-style games, pornographic GIFs, and applications they'll
never use onto their hard disks. As Ozone Pilot acutely observes:
[BELONG] is the only word you will need to know. Warez d00dz
want to belong. They have been shunned by everyone, and thus
turn to cyberspace for acceptance. That is why they always start
groups like TGW, FLT, USA and the like. Structure makes them
happy. [...] Warez d00dz will never have a handle like "Pink
Daisy" because warez d00dz are insecure. Only someone who is
very secure with a good dose of self-esteem can stand up to the
cries of fag and girlie-man. More likely you will find warez
d00dz with handles like: Doctor Death, Deranged Lunatic,
Hellraiser, Mad Prince, Dreamdevil, The Unknown, Renegade
Chemist, Terminator, and Twin Turbo. They like to sound badass
when they can hide behind their terminals. More likely, if you
were given a sample of 100 people, the person whose handle is
Hellraiser is the last person you'd associate with the name.
elite /adj./ Clueful. Plugged-in. One of the cognoscenti.
Also used as a general positive adjective. This term is not
actually hacker slang in the strict sense; it is used primarily by
crackers and {warez d00dz}. Cracker usage is probably related to
a 19200cps modem called the `Courier Elite' that was widely popular
on pirate boards before the V.32bis standard. A true hacker would
be more likely to use `wizardly'. Oppose {lamer}.
lamer /n./ [prob. originated in skateboarder slang] Synonym
for {luser}, not used much by hackers but common among {warez
d00dz}, crackers, and {phreaker}s. Oppose {elite}. Has the
same connotations of self-conscious elitism that use of {luser}
does among hackers.
Crackers also use it to refer to cracker {wannabee}s. In phreak
culture, a lamer is one who scams codes off others rather than
doing cracks or really understanding the fundamental concepts. In
{warez d00dz} culture, where the ability to wave around cracked
commercial software within days of (or before) release to the
commercial market is much esteemed, the lamer might try to upload
garbage or shareware or something incredibly old (old in this
context is read as a few years to anything older than 3
days).
luser /loo'zr/ /n./ A {user}; esp. one who is also a
{loser}. ({luser} and {loser} are pronounced
identically.) This word was coined around 1975 at MIT. Under
ITS, when you first walked up to a terminal at MIT and typed
Control-Z to get the computer's attention, it printed out some
status information, including how many people were already using
the computer; it might print "14 users", for example. Someone
thought it would be a great joke to patch the system to print "14
losers" instead. There ensued a great controversy, as some of the
users didn't particularly want to be called losers to their faces
every time they used the computer. For a while several hackers
struggled covertly, each changing the message behind the back of
the others; any time you logged into the computer it was even money
whether it would say "users" or "losers". Finally, someone
tried the compromise "lusers", and it stuck. Later one of the
ITS machines supported `luser' as a request-for-help command.
ITS died the death in mid-1990, except as a museum piece; the usage
lives on, however, and the term `luser' is often seen in program
comments.
wannabee /won'*-bee/ /n./ (also, more plausibly, spelled
`wannabe') [from a term recently used to describe Madonna fans
who dress, talk, and act like their idol; prob. originally from
biker slang] A would-be {hacker}. The connotations of this term
differ sharply depending on the age and exposure of the subject.
Used of a person who is in or might be entering {larval stage},
it is semi-approving; such wannabees can be annoying but most
hackers remember that they, too, were once such creatures. When
used of any professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or
{suit}, it is derogatory, implying that said person is trying to
cuddle up to the hacker mystique but doesn't, fundamentally, have a
prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of terms
from this lexicon is often an indication of the {wannabee}
nature. Compare {newbie}.
Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different
flavor now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the
people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in {larval
stage}, the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious
and unaffected by models known in popular culture -- communities
formed spontaneously around people who, *as individuals*, felt
irresistibly drawn to do hackerly things, and what wannabees
experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focused desire to become
similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever;
society's adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980
included the elevation of the hacker as a new kind of folk hero,
and the result is that some people semi-consciously set out to
*be hackers* and borrow hackish prestige by fitting the
popular image of hackers. Fortunately, to do this really well, one
has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time hackers
tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change; among
other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of
public compendia of lore like this one.
newbie /n[y]oo'bee/ /n./ [orig. from British public-school
and military slang variant of `new boy'] A Usenet neophyte. This
term surfaced in the {newsgroup} talk.bizarre but is now in
wide use. Criteria for being considered a newbie vary wildly; a
person can be called a newbie in one newsgroup while remaining a
respected regular in another. The label `newbie' is sometimes
applied as a serious insult to a person who has been around Usenet
for a long time but who carefully hides all evidence of having a
clue. See {B1FF}.
larval stage /n./ Describes a period of monomaniacal
concentration on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling
hackers. Common symptoms include the perpetration of more than one
36-hour {hacking run} in a given week; neglect of all other
activities including usual basics like food, sleep, and personal
hygiene; and a chronic case of advanced bleary-eye. Can last from
6 months to 2 years, the apparent median being around 18 months. A
few so afflicted never resume a more `normal' life, but the
ordeal seems to be necessary to produce really wizardly (as opposed
to merely competent) programmers. See also {wannabee}. A less
protracted and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting
about a month) may recur when one is learning a new {OS} or
programming language.
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