17
2
Th e ha c k e r s
e term “Hacker” (with a quite deliberate upper case “H” so as to
distinguish from any other usage of the word hacker) was used long
before the public Internet existed. roughout the 1950s and 1960s,
the term was widely understood in a positive light, but then the per-
ception was malformed (sorry) by the media into a term having nega-
tive, criminal connotations.
“Hacker” as a term invokes some highly emotional responses from
many people in information security, and there are fundamentalist
views on the usage of this word. So, for the purposes of this narrative,
I will rst outline how I intend to use this phrase.
Hat Colors and Ethics
A full picture of what is meant by “Hacker” in this book becomes
clearer as this chapter ...