Reading 01: Hacking Isn’t Curiosity, It’s Malicious
From “The Conscience of a Hacker” reading, The Mentor depicts his vision of the prototypical hacker. They’re groomed from a young age in school, as they are not challenged enough by the typical educational path. This boredom at school leads to authority issues; they are constantly told to do things that don’t interest them, causing them to be frustrated with teachers and other authority figures. This primes them for their first encounter with a computer, where suddenly they have access to a machine that will do exactly what they tell it. They feel empowered by the control and now have a new door opened for them where they can explore and learn and grow on their own terms. This builds The Mentor’s hacker archetype: They are curious, explorative, and eager to learn all they can. They don’t discriminate and they don’t judge, but instead they form an egalitarian community where members can help facilitate the exploration of others. Yet they also feel persecuted, as they are labeled as criminals when all they wish is to learn and feel empowered.
As a computer engineer at Notre Dame and as someone who has always been fascinated by technology, I can certainly say that I identify with a few of the attributes belonging to The Mentor’s hacker archetype. I share in their curiosity and their drive for exploration. Sure, anyone will tell you that a computer engineering degree is an extremely valuable investment and that it’s a great way to secure an interesting, stable, and well-paying job. While it’s comforting to think about that, it isn’t the reason why I got into this field. I love to learn new technologies and grow my arsenal of software stacks, and to me, there is no better feeling of working hard on a program or project and being able to see my hard work execute properly with my own eyes. However, I would not call myself a hacker, despite sharing the attributes of The Mentor’s hacker archetype. My reason for this is because I don’t agree with the Mentor’s hacker archetype, meaning that I don’t believe these characteristics and attributes define a hacker.
In my opinion, the word “hacker” defines a person who digitally gains access to spaces that they are not given entry to in order to steal information or cause harm to the system. A hacker would do this in order to benefit himself or herself or cause detriment to the person or organization that they are hacking. For example, a hacker exploited a vulnerability in Target’s infrastructure to steal 40 million credit and debit card numbers and 70 million records containing names and addresses of customers. This is a malicious act to steal information and money from customers of Target, not simply curiosity or exploration. This is who I believe to be a hacker, and this person is indeed a criminal.
One can obviously make the case that hackers can be working to benefit a larger community of people, such as when Edward Snowden revealed NSA secrets to the general public. The morality of this action is hotly debated, but it is a fact that it caused immense harm to the United States government, and thus I would still characterize him as a hacker.
