Hacking : The Real Definition

Hacking : The Real Definition

Recently, I helped a friend bypass the internet filter at his office in order to access a website needed to complete his work requests. This involved inserting a portable drive into the computer and changing some settings around. After a few minutes of fiddling, the bright red logo of   the website appeared on the screen. The   reports we needed loaded flawlessly. I cringed, though, when a few people dubbed me a “hacker.” What is hacking anyway? In this day and age, especially with the widespread proliferation of technology, “hacking” is a term that is becoming more and more liberally applied, often with negative connotations.
Traditionally, the term has meant something along the lines of “breaking into a computer system without permission”. In the 21st century, however, it is imperative that we fully understand what hacking is and what constitutes a hacker. The way it is used today, hacking can refer to an endless range of technology-related activities. Some imaginative types have managed to play classical music on the scrawny little devices known as graphing calculators. One company has invented a video projector system that uses high-pressure films of water as its screen. iPods have been witnessed browsing the internet. Now ask the folks at MIT, widely regarded as the place where use of the term “hacking” originated sometime in the 1960s and 1970s. They will tell you that hacking can mean putting police cars, fire trucks, and airplanes on top of buildings, or “stealing” an antique cannon from rival school Cal Tech. These wildly different examples may seem to have nothing at all in common. But each account of hacking shares some common characteristics: ingenuity, creativity, and problem-solving. These notions sum up what it means to hack – qualities that can be used as well as abused.
Unfortunately, stereotypes dictate that hacking is done by all-knowing “nerds” or “geeks”. This is not the case – rather, hacking can still be...