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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>hacker ethic</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="../H.html" title="H"/><link rel="previous" href="hacker.html" title="hacker"/><link rel="next" href="hacker-humor.html" title="hacker humor"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">hacker ethic</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="hacker.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">H</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="hacker-humor.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="hacker-ethic"/><dt xmlns="" id="hacker-ethic"><b>hacker ethic</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> 1. The belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good,
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and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by
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writing open-source code and facilitating access to information and to
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computing resources wherever possible. </p></dd><dd><p> 2. The belief that system-cracking for fun and exploration is
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ethically OK as long as the cracker commits no theft, vandalism, or breach
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of confidentiality.</p></dd><dd><p>Both of these normative ethical principles are widely, but by no
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means universally, accepted among hackers. Most hackers subscribe to the
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hacker ethic in sense 1, and many act on it by writing and giving away
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open-source software. A few go further and assert that
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<span class="emphasis"><em>all</em></span> information should be free and
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<span class="emphasis"><em>any</em></span> proprietary control of it is bad; this is the
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philosophy behind the <a href="../G/GNU.html"><i class="glossterm">GNU</i></a> project.</p><p>Sense 2 is more controversial: some people consider the act of
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cracking itself to be unethical, like breaking and entering. But the
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belief that ‘ethical’ cracking excludes destruction at least
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moderates the behavior of people who see themselves as ‘benign’
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crackers (see also <a href="../S/samurai.html"><i class="glossterm">samurai</i></a>, <a href="../G/gray-hat.html"><i class="glossterm">gray
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hat</i></a>). On this view, it may be one of the highest forms of
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hackerly courtesy to (a) break into a system, and then (b) explain to the
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sysop, preferably by email from a <a href="../S/superuser.html"><i class="glossterm">superuser</i></a> account,
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exactly how it was done and how the hole can be plugged — acting as
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an unpaid (and unsolicited) <a href="../T/tiger-team.html"><i class="glossterm">tiger team</i></a>.</p><p>The most reliable manifestation of either version of the hacker ethic
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is that almost all hackers are actively willing to share technical tricks,
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software, and (where possible) computing resources with other hackers.
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Huge cooperative networks such as <a href="../U/Usenet.html"><i class="glossterm">Usenet</i></a>,
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<a href="../F/FidoNet.html"><i class="glossterm">FidoNet</i></a> and the Internet itself can function without
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central control because of this trait; they both rely on and reinforce a
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sense of community that may be hackerdom's most valuable intangible
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asset.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="hacker.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../H.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="hacker-humor.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">hacker </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> hacker humor</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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