Hacking, through the past five and a half decades, has evolved as much computers have and the motivations that people use to hack have evolved as well. This presentation will not demonize hackers, nor will it lump all hackers together into one large, faceless group of underground nerds with nefarious intentions. Rather, this paper seeks to put the activity into some sort of historical and social context. With the launch of the personal computer in the 1970's and the consequent commercialization and commodification of computers and software, many hackers were forced underground or otherwise resorted to hiding what had previously been considered intellectual experimentation, exploration, and knowledge sharing.

With reference to what it means to 'hack,' it is useful to understand to note that, "Despite its present predominant connotations of illicit computer break-ins, within hacking circles it is more widely defined as an attempt to make use of any technology in an original, unorthodox and inventive way" (15).

Hacking, today, seems to encompass phone phreaking, phishing, software piracy, identity theft, worms, viruses, spyware, and many other illegal activities, although most real, hard-core hackers avoid these activities. Some hackers do seek to undermine the Microsoft empire by finding and exploiting security fallacies in the software, while others are now eyeing Macintosh, as evidenced by a Forbes.com article by Greg Levine, "Symantec Warns More Hackers Eyeing Apple's Macintosh OS."

Many hackers are still in it for the pure exhilaration of pushing the limits, of discovering and working with new technology and seeing where it can take them. As related by Pekka Imanen, in The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age, "to hackers a computer is also entertainment. Not the games, not the pretty pictures on the Net. The computer itself is entertainment" (xvii). This site will attempt to demonstrate a bit of the history of hacking and how much of the original Hacker Ethic still remains within this vast, uncharted subculture.