what is hacking?
well, here's miff's take on it...
with the popularization of the net, hacking has come to mean different
things to different people. While the average ________ (<-- fill in the blank)
sees national security threats in every crevice - threats from the
all too scary hyper-technical youth (or worse - foreign terrorists & corporate
spies!!), the hacking community seeks to define itself with some modicum
of respect. It is most likely that the prejudices of the average press
consumer in America will continue to be shaped by whatever
sensationalistic portrayals
of hackerism that the media paints to sell newspapers or TV ad time.
For the vast majority of America, things need to be simple.
As net consurmerism and subscribership grows, more aolamers and their
equivalents burst into the threads of alt.2600 (and other areas) to
declare their lack of skill to the world. To these people, it is an
exciting new frontier, a tempting glimpse of easy power (as distinct from
easy money) suddenly within their reach. Some of these will persist and
become the bread and butter of tomorrow's defcons and summercons, while
most will fade out or live on in lameness.
Finally, there is the hacking "community" itself.
you know, I really was going to present my take on this here, but I'm
thinking that there are people far more qualified than myself that can
define the 2600 / hacking community as it exists today. Perhaps, too, it
would cheapen the entire thing if I (or anyone) were to try and define it
in some narrow sense.
Vaguely, hacking is the activity of vigorous
computer-related exploration,
for fun, for adventure, for learning, for profit, for whatever.
define hacking to miff
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