Hacking = Innovation

I didn’t really expect my rant to make it to security.nl today. It’s funny to see that the term is almost as religiously debated as the choice of favorite linux distro.

I never said that we couldn’t use the term hacker in more meaning then the original one, but we should also explain the other (positive) meanings from time to time. Which was my purpose and goal.

My problem is the use of the word hacker, just to grab attention and get more hits to the news article. Even if it barely fits the case of a cybercriminal. That was my real issue.

But I give journalists credit for sometimes writing good articles without hyping the word hacker. This week there was this NYT article on a study done on US powergrid vulnerabilities. Ok, they used the term “cyberwarrior” but maybe only once. And wired.com did a great piece on hackerspaces before. So it isn’t all bad all the time.

Now some people said that it should be generally accepted that it means a criminal and I don’t completely agree. Just have a look at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker

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Innovation

• Hacker (computing), a contentious term used for several types of person:
  • Hacker (computer security) or cracker, who accesses a computer system by circumventing its security system
  • Hacker (programmer subculture), who shares an anti-authoritarian approach to software development now associated with the free software movement
  • Hacker (hobbyist), who makes innovative customizations or combinations of retail electronic and computer equipment

Analogous meanings in other fields are:

• Media hacker, innovative user of digital media
• Wetware hacker, who experiments with biological materials
• Reality hacking, activism through legally dubious disruption of digital media

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Yes, you can scold me for using wikipedia. But besides the many meaning of this word mentioned here, was the category that they belong to!!! INNOVATION!! And not just the old “meaning” of taking things apart. Hacking = innovation. And I hope we can communicate this as counterbalance to some of the press out there.

Have a look at this BruCON presentation by Astera on Hackerspaces and make up your mind.

Building Hackerspaces Everywhere – Astera – BruCON 2009 from security4all on Vimeo.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Security4all - Dedicated to digital security, enterprise 2.0 and presentation skills authored by Security4all. Read the original post at: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Security4all/~3/cNH3NGs4wa4/hacking-innovation.html