Why are we Hacker?

[Isethoriginal]

We are signed in as members in House of Hackers, which makes as a family of hacker... but in which sense are we hacker? I was wondering a lot about it for a while.
For me hacking is somehow a way of life, the personal need to find out everything and to understand how it works. That is why I personally don't define Hacker as evil even if they take a look at my pc (as long as they don't harm anybody).
A lot of people have another opinion about that. So what are Hackers to you and why are you a Hacker?

[camilo]

I don't really consider myself a hacker - but I've found that, on the Internet, most people with ideas similar to those of mine call themselves "hackers" and gather on so-called "hacking" websites. Does that make me a hacker? I don't know. But I ejoy hacking discussions, technical stuff, programming...and taking a source code and obfuscating it :)

[Ambrianna]

Good topic. Well, you know, I may underestimate what I know because there is so much more for me to learn, a task most quickly and easily accomplished thru sharing. What else can one most accurately call oneself using one word only, when you invest enormous amounts of time seeking information on the topic? If you crash your computer and run out to get a new one in the same day, this might mean you qualify for a minimum of the title of addict.....lol...Obviously, "addict" is a much less becoming label. The term is a VERB so it's grammatically helpful for the English major aspect of any net publisher.

You speak of the Family, and the culture is one I feel at home in. It is purely democratic which is something often missing in democracy. Here you learn the real meaning of the word. The members are also quite altruistic with just the right proportion of self defense. Further, members also demonstrate a rare and appealing personality trait. heroism. Top it with teamwork and you have teams of heros seeking to use shared knowledge to maintain rights and freedom in cyberspace. For example, when SOURCE became "secret," (aka limiting knowledge to benefit the rich few) reverse engineering was "created." The net result balanced the market economy more fairly, and increasd wisdom, if you ask me.

On top of all this, the community shares freely without pompous arrogance, giving only due respect to the worthy, rather than hoarding "secrets" for the sole purpose of oppressing others. For every corrupt "hacker" there are 10 "ethical" hackers. To bad, we may not be able to often say the same thing about some governments.

Now I know, those who really do know it all may say, there may be nothing "ethical" about "hacking" but this opinion is still a matter of how you define "hacking," "cracking," "phreaking." It reflects the exact sense of duty and yes, appreciation for ethics that really does exist. It is also especially a matter of how the scales of justice are understood. So its not the act, or the knowledge, but a matter of how an instrument is used, each of which are relative choices in the end. This being the basis of all actions on the Earthly plane.

In summary, my opinion today, based on what I know now, leads me to believe that however, I may label myself, it's all a matter of degree. These titles are not conferred degrees, they are indeed self imposed slang terms. Professionals use more official titles. I may be American, but I am also Native American, German, Dutch, Italian, and I am also none of these. I'll stop before I start confusing....lol...