Hacker ethics

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The hacker ethic describes a collection of ethical values ​​that should be decisive for the hacker culture . There are now various definitions for this ethic . Central values ​​in the various constellations are freedom, cooperation, voluntary and self-chosen work and sharing.

Steven Levy coined the term in his 1984 book Hackers , and established a first set of principles of hacker ethics. According to Levy, it documents the impression of the values ​​of the early hacker scene at MIT . According to the interpretation of the Jargon File, this hacker ethic is the conviction that the distribution of software and technical documentation is good and correct; a hacker's ethical duty is to pass his knowledge on by writing software and technical documentation.

Today, the hacker ethic is often referred to as the version of the Chaos Computer Club , which both expands the existing rules and adds two more.

Principles of the hacker ethic

Levy described the general principles of the hacker ethic in the foreword to his book called Hackers :

  • Free access to computers
  • Free access to knowledge
  • Distrust of authorities and preference for decentralization.
  • Hackers should only be judged on their ability.
  • You can create art and beauty using computers
  • Improving the world through the diffusion of technology
Access to computers and everything that can teach you something about the world should be unlimited and total.
A hacker should be free to learn from existing ideas and systems and to build on them. Access gives hackers the ability to fix, take apart, or improve things and thus learn how they work. This gives them the knowledge to invent new things and thus encourage the diffusion of technology.
Information should be free and therefore available to everyone.
This is directly related to the first statement. Any information the hacker needs to fix, improve or reinvent something should be freely available. An exchange of ideas strengthens creativity. Every system benefits from the principles of transparency, which are also striven for in a democracy. Free should be understood in the sense of freedom and not in the sense of free.
Distrust of authority and preference for decentralization.
Creating an open system without borders is the best way to enable hackers to get the information or equipment they need to do their duty of knowledge gathering and improving themselves and the world. Hackers believe that a bureaucratic system is a buggy system no matter where that system is used.
Hackers should only be judged on their ability to hack.
The hacker ethic is a performance-based system in which superficiality is not valued. Age, education, race, gender, or rank are not relevant in the hacking community. Ability is the only and ultimate measure of judging one another. Such behavior encourages the hacking community and software development to advance. L Peter Deutsch is often cited as an example , who was accepted into the TX-0 community at the age of twelve because of his ability, while he was not accepted by students.
You can create art and beauty using computers.
Hackers love technology that allows them to solve complex tasks with just a few instructions. Program code can be incredibly beautiful if it is carefully and skillfully created. Creating the smallest possible programs quickly became a competition between early adherents of the hacker culture.
Computers can change everyone's life for the better.
Hackers feel that computers have made their lives more exciting and generally improved them. Hackers see computers as something they can control and influence. They believe that everyone benefits from computers and if everyone were to use computers the way they do, the hacking ethic could change the world for the better. The world should learn that a world with computers is an open world.

Chaos Computer Club's hacker ethics

In the 1980s, some hackers from the CCC environment made their skills available to the KGB ( KGB hack ). Since the association perceived this as contrary to its goals, its members defined an extension of Levy's hacker ethics. This expanded form contains slight changes to the original rules and two entirely new points. The hacking ethic in the CCC's version is:

  • Access to computers and anything that can show you how this world works should be unlimited and complete.
  • All information must be free.
  • Suspicious authorities - encourage decentralization
  • Judge a hacker by what he does, not the usual criteria like appearance, age, race, gender, or social status.
  • You can create art and beauty with a computer.
  • Computers can change your life for the better.
  • Don't litter other people's data.
  • Use public data, protect private data.

Levy's "true hackers"

Levy names some "true hackers" who have significantly influenced the hacker culture. Some of them are:

Levy distinguishes three generations of hackers. He calls the second generation “hardware hackers”, most of whom come from Silicon Valley , and the third generation “game hackers”. All three generations embody the principles of the hacker ethic. Some of Levy's second generation of hackers are:

Levy's "third generation" includes, among other things:

  • John Harris: One of the earliest developers of On-Line Systems (now Sierra Entertainment )
  • Ken Williams : Together with his wife Roberta , he founded On-Line Systems after previously working at IBM

Later developments

The notion of hacker ethics and discourses related to the principles established by Levy began to spread in the mid-1980s. As the original hacking ethic developed at MIT, the principles of the hacking ethic began to be adapted to the wider world in the 1980s. Followers of such ethics also referred to the principles of freedom, openness, and cooperation, but often charged these more politically and culturally.

Sharing and collaboration

The early hackers at MIT had worked on university-owned machines, largely funded by the ARPA . The first computer clubs in California were mostly founded by hobbyists who had no financial intentions associated with their hobby. When it became apparent in the early 1980s that microcomputers and software would become a promising market segment for them, and the commodification of hardware and software began to emerge, the framework of the hacker ethic changed. Many former members of the scene were suddenly in competition with one another; the behavior of not passing on information and keeping secrets could, at least in the short term, pay off financially.

Computer security

It was also taken up by the hacker scene in the area of ​​computer security, reinterpreted in this context, partially expanded and understood as a work ethic that deals with the moral handling of information , as in information ethics. Although not called hacker ethic, date from the mid-1980s theoretical approaches that clearly derive from this: the Hacker Manifesto of 1986, the maxim information wants to be free of 1984 by Stewart Brand or Genocide2600 Manifesto .

The hacker ethic according to Wau Holland and the CCC is an extension of the points documented by Steven Levy and a reinterpretation in the context of computer security. According to this, intrusion into computer systems for the purpose of amusement and expanding knowledge should be acceptable as long as no data is stolen or altered.

In 1996, Eric S. Raymond defined the hacker ethic based on two principles: On the one hand, there was the obligation to publish and pass on information. On the other hand, it is the belief that breaking into and hacking into systems is justified as long as it does not cause damage. While the first principle was undisputed in the hacking scene and spread, for example, through free software , the second was by no means undisputedly accepted.

Himanen

The Finnish author Pekka Himanen tried in 2001 in the book of the same name to reformulate the hacker ethics. Himanen defines a hacker as someone who follows his passion, in which he can fulfill himself, and who in the process creates something good for everyone. For Himanen, the hacker ethic is a new work ethic that questions the Protestant work ethic . In contrast to control, which the Protestant work ethic emphasizes, the hacker ethic stands for exchange and freedom, which lead to prosperity for all.

Himanen traces the hacker ethics back to Plato and the values ​​of the scientific community. He is referring to Plato's statement that true knowledge arises suddenly and only if you live together and communicate with each other often and in a familiar way. For Himanen, the Hackers' Codex is very similar to the ideal of science, which historically has proven to be superior for generating and passing on knowledge.

reception

The compatibility of the interpretation of the hacker ethics documented by Levy by the CCC and the interpretation of the Jargon File is controversial.

Software developer Richard Stallman claims that hacking and ethics are two separate issues.

See also

literature

  • Pekka Himanen: The hacker ethic and the spirit of the information age . Riemann, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-570-50020-9 .
  • Markos Themelidis: Open Source - The hackers' vision of freedom . Books on Demand, 2005, ISBN 3-8334-2883-X
  • Steven Levy: Hackers . 1984, ISBN 0-440-13405-6
  • Boris Grondahl: Hacker . European publishing house / Rotbuch Verlag, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-434-53506-3
  • Christian Imhorst: The Anarchy of the Hackers - Richard Stallman and the Free Software Movement . Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2004, ISBN 3-8288-8769-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker-ethic.html
  2. ↑ a b CCC | hackerethics. In: www.ccc.de. Retrieved August 7, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Hackers , p. 226
  4. ↑ Hackers , pp. 3-36
  5. ↑ Hackers , p. 27
  6. ↑ Hackers , p. 28
  7. ↑ http://faculty.nps.edu/dedennin/publications/ConcerningHackers-NCSC.txt
  8. ↑ Hackers , p. 28
  9. ↑ Hacker , p. 3
  10. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gabriellacoleman.org
  11. ↑ Hackers , p. 31
  12. ↑ Hackers , pp. 30-31
  13. ↑ Hackers , pp. 3-36
  14. ↑ Hackers , p. 33
  15. ↑ Hackers , p. 36
  16. ^ A b Jason Whittacker: The cyberspace handbook . Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-16835-X
  17. ^ Douglas Thomas: Hacker Culture . University of Minnesota Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8166-3346-0 , p. 15
  18. ^ Douglas Thomas: Hacker Culture . University of Minnesota Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8166-3346-0 , p. 19
  19. ↑ https://www.ccc.de/hackerethics
  20. ↑ Eric S. Raymond: The new hacker's dictionary . MIT Press, 1996, ISBN 0-262-68092-0 , p. 234
  21. ↑ Petra Steinmair-Pösel: Passions in economy, politics, and the media . LIT Verlag, Münster, 2005, ISBN 3-8258-7822-8 , p. 333
  22. ↑ Petra Steinmair-Pösel: Passions in economy, politics, and the media . LIT Verlag, Münster, 2005, ISBN 3-8258-7822-8 , p. 334
  23. ↑ https://www.heise.de/tp/features/The-Script-Kiddies-Are-Not-Alright-3451965.html
  24. ↑ The Hacker Community and Ethics: An Interview with Richard M. Stallman, 2002 (English)