The Hacker's Ethic
Sadly, due to the traditional ignorance and sensationalizing of the mass media, the once-noble term hacker has become a perjorative. Among true computer people, being called a hacker is a compliment. One of the traits of the true hacker is a profoundly antibureaucratic and democratic spirit. That spirit is best exemplified by the Hacker's Ethic. This ethic was best formulated by Steven Levy in his 1984 book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Its tenets are as follows:
- Access to computers should be unlimited and total.
- All information should be free.
- Mistrust authority - promote decentralization.
- Hackers should be judged by their hacking not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.
- You create art and beauty on a computer,
- Computers can change your life for the better.
The Internet as a whole reflects this ethic.