If you enjoyed the Jargon File, please help the culture that
created it grow and flourish. Here are several ways you can
help:
• If you are a writer or journalist, don't say or write
hacker when you mean cracker. If you work with writers or
journalists, educate them on this issue and push them to do the
right thing. If you catch a newspaper or magazine abusing the
work `hacker', write them and straighten them out (this appendix
includes a model letter).
• If you're a techie or computer hobbyist, get involved
with one of the free Unixes. Toss out that lame Microsoft OS, or
confine it to one disk partition and put Linux or FreeBSD or
NetBSD on the other one. And the next time your friend or boss is
thinking about some proprietary software `solution' that costs
more than it's worth, be ready to blow the competition away with
open-source software running over a Unix.
• Contribute to organizations like the Free Software
Foundation that promote the production of high-quality free and
open-source software. You can reach the Free Software Foundation
at _gnu@gnu.org_, by phone at +1-617-542-5942, or by
snail-mail at 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA.
• Support the League for Programming Freedom, which
opposes over-broad software patents that constantly threaten to
blow up in hackers' faces, preventing them from developing
innovative software for tomorrow's needs. You can reach the
League for Programming Freedom at _lpf@uunet.uu.net_. by
phone at +1 617 621 7084, or by snail-mail at 1 Kendall Square
#143, P.O.Box 9171, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA.
• Join the continuing fight against Internet censorship, visit the
Center for Democracy and Technology Home Page at http://www.cdt.org.
• If you do nothing else, please help fight government attempts to
seize political control of Internet content and restrict strong
cryptography. The so-called `Communications Decency Act' was declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, but U.S. cryptography policy
still infringes our First Amendment rights. Surf to the Center for
Democracy and technology's home page at http://www.cdt.org to see what
you can do to help fight censorship of the net.
Here's the text of a letter RMS wrote to the Wall Street
Journal to complain about their policy of using "hacker" only in
a pejorative sense. We hear that most major newspapers have the
same policy. If you'd like to help change this situation, send
your favorite newspaper the same letter - or, better yet, write
your own letter.
Dear Editor:
This letter is not meant for publication, although you can
publish it if you wish. It is meant specifically for you, the
editor, not the public.
I am a hacker. That is to say, I enjoy playing with computers
-- working with, learning about, and writing clever computer
programs. I am not a cracker; I don't make a practice of breaking
computer security.
There's nothing shameful about the hacking I do. But when I
tell people I am a hacker, people think I'm admitting something
naughty -- because newspapers such as yours misuse the word
"hacker", giving the impression that it means "security breaker"
and nothing else. You are giving hackers a bad name.
The saddest thing is that this problem is perpetuated
deliberately. Your reporters know the difference between "hacker"
and "security breaker". They know how to make the distinction,
but you don't let them! You insist on using "hacker"
pejoratively. When reporters try to use another word, you change
it. When reporters try to explain the other meanings, you cut
it.
Of course, you have a reason. You say that readers have become
used to your insulting usage of "hacker", so that you cannot
change it now. Well, you can't undo past mistakes today; but that
is no excuse to repeat them tomorrow.
If I were what you call a "hacker", at this point I would
threaten to crack your computer and crash it. But I am a hacker,
not a cracker. I don't do that kind of thing! I have enough
computers to play with at home and at work; I don't need yours.
Besides, it's not my way to respond to insults with violence. My
response is this letter.
You owe hackers an apology; but more than that, you owe us
ordinary respect.
Sincerely, etc.