What is a Hacker? [debate]

[Huntondoom]

Since most people have different views on "What is a good hacker?",

I think you got the kind of hacker that is defined by the government,

and the kind of Good Hackers,

now we want to discus the Good hacker part,

I thought iTpHo3NiX had a really good idea of what that could be:

I think you got it wrong Huntondoom. A good hacker has nothing to do with that stuff. That's just describing someone who is not a skiddy. Hackers seek information and share it with the world. Its all about the flow of information. Sure a hacker can code and make tools, but so can a 13 year old kid with VB6.

What do you think about this or what is your opinion on this Subject?
and what kind of views do you have on Skiddy and Hackers?

(I will not participate until some people have joined this topic, since I started it)

[Zesh]

mhmm...good hackers....the name white hat right?

Anyway I think a good hacker would be someone that 'hacks' for reason on reporting security issues and finding holes that can be fixed up. Understand what Im trying to say?

[ande]

Everyone is going to have different options on this. Its a matter of what you want it to be.

For me a hacker is an intelligent person creating/fixing/changing or just happened to destroy something in his attempt to gain knowledge. With that said, my opinion is also that this person have to be somewhat computer or technology related, which is indeed a very broad spectrum of things.

[bubzuru]

i think that a hacker is someone who love to gain\share knowledge, make things do stuff there not ment to. hacker is such a wide term i think there should be like sub category's

hardware hacker
  -
software hacker 
 - ??
 -etc

[Huntondoom]

then should an hacker be more like
information gather, and able to find nice sulotion to certain stuff?
like making tools to do stuff?

[ande]

then should an hacker be more like
information gather, and able to find nice sulotion to certain stuff?
like making tools to do stuff?

A hacker should have the ability to find good solutions to various problems within the reach of his or hers knowledge level.
Creating or using tools on the other hand does not make a hacker. A hacker may use tools, but only for tasks that are stupid to do by hand(or impossible?). My opinion anyway.

[iTpHo3NiX]

HACKER (Originally, someone who makes furniture with an Ax.) n. 1. A person who enjoys learning the details of programming systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically, or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value (q.v.). 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. Not everything a hacker produces is a hack. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it . . . . 6. A malicious or inquisitive meddler who tries to discover information by poking around.

Some pretty fundamental versions of what a hacker is.
Source: http://www.unusualresearch.com/hacker/cud112.htm

But as Huntondoom quoted myself, that's what I believe a true hacker is. But also as Bubzuru said "Hacker" is too general of a term. It would need to be more narrowed down into category for the different type of hackers.

Some other good Hacker definitions

1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.
4. A person who is good at programming quickly.
5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a UNIX hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)
6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence "password hacker", "network hacker". The correct term is cracker.

The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic.

It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. There is thus a certain ego satisfaction to be had in identifying yourself as a hacker (but if you claim to be one and are not, you'll quickly be labeled bogus).

Source: http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/hacker.html

And who could forget:

The Hacker Manifesto
http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/manifesto.html

[replica watches]

a hacker is a clever one with  high operation and calculating ability.and possesses good logistic capapility person who  is expertise in computer programming.

[FuyuKitsune]

7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

This has to be the most accurate and encompassing definition. A hacker is someone who has fun pushing the limits.

[iTpHo3NiX]

This has to be the most accurate and encompassing definition. A hacker is someone who has fun pushing the limits.

That's why I bolded it. I felt that one to be the best definition I've ever come across. It pretty much says what I think, but in a much easier way then me trying to explain it

[nops0n]

Cool, another fluidly flou what's a hacker topic. First of all, I'll start by defining black/white/grey hats, from my point of view.  That thought is dynamic. I mean… when I am angry (which is extremely rare, I'm just making an example), I want to wreck things. But if you want to be gentleman, professional and a correct human being, you wont fuck ( sens figuré ) nor destroy. It all depends on your style, your morals and your brain. If you like to wreck shit, you fuck if you don’t, then you’re good and you don’t fuck. It’s like saying “Do you like good or evil?” I’m a little mixed about that. Sometimes I would love to break some peoples’ noses, sometimes I love boobs and want to fuck girls.

Being a lamer and being leet to me is nonexistent, that is something made up by the skids that wanted to label people. Just like being black, white or arab exists. Being leet is way back in the old days. People would be elite board members, nowadays I don’t think it should even exist. That was just an extra group name in the past… it failed and for some reason people say that they’re elite to this day. I like to keep things simple. People suck or they don’t. Black hats are evil, White hats are good, as simple as that Most white hats tend to be borderline gray hats really… not many white hats are pure good except for the Christian Jesus lovers.

What the fuck is a hacker then ? I really think I should evite talking about this. It is just a little bit too confusing. Is it a name ? A statue ? An achievement or simply a being. Can we become one or, are we born one ? Every definition here and there are contradictory and beat each other up. Some say that you can become one, but it requires a certain way of thinking, a philosophy. Some just say you're born a hacker, just like if you're born smart or dumb. Like a wiseman once said : '' What I really know, is that I know nothing ''.

What I'm certain of, is that I'm not a hacker.

[Dr.Evil]

In my opinion, a hacker (In computer scene) is someone that understand the machines better than most of humans does. A hacker is someone that have a special relationships to eletronics (no fetish or something like that) and want to dig deeper into the systems to understand them even more. A hacker is always seeking for knownledge. A classic hacker type is male, with glasses that doesn't have many friends in real life (Joke that is just hollywood hacker style).

Well basicly i mean, a hacker is someone that loves knownledge when it comes to systems, he loves to program, create tools and the most important of all, he is someone that normal people that doesn't understand machines can ask for help from.

That is what i think a hacker is (white hat hacker).

[a12danrulz]

For me, a hacker is someone who is so skilled with what they do they can exploit the tiny, near unnoticable failures other people make and use them for their own ends, whether to completely destroy a vulnerable site or to help people with finding and fixing security holes. They have an accute understanding of networking, programming, exploitation, and computers in general. They want to know how EVERYTHING works and try to make them more suited for their needs, anything from making their blender run better to breaking into a hostile country's network to prevent nuclear war.

As for white and black hat, a white hat hacker is someone who doesn't go too far when they hack, and usually have a reason for what they do and occasionally let the owner know about the risk. They could be working for a company to help test networks or they could have fun trying to gain a shell on a site.

Black hat hackers to me are the people who break into a network for the sole purpose of defacing it, destroying it, or stealing sensitive information they can use for their own ends. They could be compared to the bully who walks the halls and takes the weak nerds lunch money, a close site comparison could be carders.cc, little no-lifes who steal peoples personal info. Black hatters have no rhyme or reason to what their targets are, other than the target being vulnerable.

Grey hat hackers are pretty much a grey area. To me they are the people who just started learning how to hack, they don't know what they are doing and just crash around the Internet for any targets they can find though. But if your site is vulnerable, they tend to do the most damage because they don't fully realize what the consequences are.

Hope you guys think these are close descriptions

[Bursihido]

IMO  Hacker someone who lives on its own imagination.

[Rafy]

Everyone's grand father was a hacker.When he built his house and used some tricks to stop the leaking roof(hacks).
He who found a way to insulate his house better than others and took drastic measures against a future flood.That is the definition of the word Hacker in my opinion imagination+creativity to achieve a better way of life by exploiting situations .