samurai

n. A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for factions in
corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing privacy-rights and First
Amendment cases, and other parties with legitimate reasons to need an
electronic locksmith. In 1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a
loose-knit culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems,
mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have modeled themselves
explicitly on the historical samurai of Japan and on the net cowboys of
William Gibson's cyberpunk novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a
rigid ethic of loyalty to their employers and to disdain the vandalism and
theft practiced by criminal crackers as beneath them and contrary to the
hacker ethic; some quote Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings , a classic
of historical samurai doctrine, in support of these principles. See also
sneaker , Stupids , social engineering , cracker , hacker ethic , and
dark-side hacker.

