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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Appendix C. Helping Hacker Culture Grow</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="pt03.html" title="Part III. Appendices"/><link rel="previous" href="miscellaneous.html" title="Miscellaneous"/><link rel="next" href="pt03.html#bibliography" title="Bibliography"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Appendix C. Helping Hacker Culture Grow</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="miscellaneous.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Part III. Appendices</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="pt03.html#bibliography">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><div class="appendix" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="appendixc"/>Appendix C. Helping Hacker Culture Grow</h2></div></div><div/></div><p>If you have enjoyed the Jargon File, please help the culture that
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created it grow and flourish. Here are several ways you can help:</p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc"><li><p>If you are a writer or journalist, don't say or write
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<a href="H/hacker.html"><i class="glossterm">hacker</i></a> when you mean <a href="C/cracker.html"><i class="glossterm">cracker</i></a>.
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If you work with writers or journalists, educate them on this issue and push
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them to do the right thing. If you catch a newspaper or magazine abusing the
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word ‘hacker’, write them and straighten them out (this appendix
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includes a model letter).</p></li><li><p>If you're a techie or computer hobbyist, get involved with one
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of the free Unixes. Toss out that lame Microsoft OS, or confine it to one
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disk partition and put Linux or FreeBSD or NetBSD on the other one. And the
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next time your friend or boss is thinking about some proprietary software
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‘solution’ that costs more than it's worth, be ready to blow the
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competition away with open-source software running over a
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Unix.</p></li><li><p>Contribute to organizations like the Free Software Foundation
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that promote the production of high-quality free and open-source software.
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You can reach the Free Software Foundation at <tt class="email"><<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">gnu@gnu.org</a>></tt>, by
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phone at +1-617-542-5942, or by snail-mail at 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
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Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA.</p></li><li><p>Support the League for Programming Freedom, which opposes
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over-broad software patents that constantly threaten to blow up in hackers'
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faces, preventing them from developing innovative software for tomorrow's
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needs. You can reach the League for Programming Freedom at
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<tt class="email"><<a href="mailto:lpf@uunet.uu.net">lpf@uunet.uu.net</a>></tt>. by phone at +1 617 621 7084, or by
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snail-mail at 1 Kendall Square #143, P.O.Box 9171, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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02139 USA.</p></li><li><p>Join the continuing fight against Internet censorship, visit
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the Center for Democracy and Technology Home Page at <a href="http://www.cdt.org/" target="_top">http://www.cdt.org/</a>.</p></li><li><p>If you do nothing else, please help fight government attempts
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to seize political control of Internet content and restrict strong
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cryptography. The so-called ‘Communications Decency Act’ was
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declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but U.S. cryptography policy
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still infringes our First Amendment rights. Surf to the Center for Democracy
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and technology's home page at <a href="http://www.cdt.org/" target="_top">http://www.cdt.org/</a> to see what you can do
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to help fight censorship of the net.</p></li></ul></div><p>Here's the text of a letter RMS wrote to the Wall Street Journal to
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complain about their policy of using “<span class="quote">hacker</span>” only in a
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pejorative sense. We hear that most major newspapers have the same policy.
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If you'd like to help change this situation, send your favorite newspaper the
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same letter — or, better yet, write your own letter.</p><div class="blockquote"><blockquote class="blockquote"><p>This letter is not meant for publication, although you can publish it if
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you wish. It is meant specifically for you, the editor, not the
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public. </p><p>I am a hacker. That is to say, I enjoy playing with computers —
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working with, learning about, and writing clever computer programs. I am not
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a cracker; I don't make a practice of breaking computer security. </p><p>There's nothing shameful about the hacking I do. But when I tell people
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I am a hacker, people think I'm admitting something naughty — because
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newspapers such as yours misuse the word “<span class="quote">hacker</span>”, giving the
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impression that it means “<span class="quote">security breaker</span>” and nothing else.
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You are giving hackers a bad name. </p><p>The saddest thing is that this problem is perpetuated deliberately.
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Your reporters know the difference between “<span class="quote">hacker</span>” and
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“<span class="quote">security breaker</span>”. They know how to make the distinction, but
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you don't let them! You insist on using “<span class="quote">hacker</span>” pejoratively.
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When reporters try to use another word, you change it. When reporters try to
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explain the other meanings, you cut it.</p><p>Of course, you have a reason. You say that readers have become used to
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your insulting usage of “<span class="quote">hacker</span>”, so that you cannot change it
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now. Well, you can't undo past mistakes today; but that is no excuse to
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repeat them tomorrow.</p><p>If I were what you call a “<span class="quote">hacker</span>”, at this point I would
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threaten to crack your computer and crash it. But I am a hacker, not a
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cracker. I don't do that kind of thing! I have enough computers to play with
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at home and at work; I don't need yours. Besides, it's not my way to respond
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to insults with violence. My response is this letter.</p><p>You owe hackers an apology; but more than that, you owe us ordinary
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respect.</p></blockquote></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="miscellaneous.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="pt03.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="pt03.html#bibliography">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Miscellaneous </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Bibliography</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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