Hacker
/ˈhæk.ər/ · Noun · Hacker Culture · Origin: 1960
Definitions
Hacker is a term with a rich and contested history in computing culture. In its original sense, dating to the 1960s at MIT, a hacker is someone who explores the limits of technology with creativity, curiosity, and deep technical skill, building clever solutions and pushing systems beyond their intended use. This tradition values intellectual challenge, playful exploration, and sharing knowledge freely. The mainstream media largely redefined the term in the 1980s and 1990s to mean someone who breaks into computer systems, conflating it with criminal activity. The security community distinguishes between white-hat hackers (ethical security researchers), black-hat hackers (malicious actors), and gray-hat hackers (who operate in ethical gray areas). Many technologists still use hacker in its original positive sense, describing skilled programmers who build creative things. Hacker News, hackathons, and hacker culture continue to celebrate the constructive tradition.
In plain English: Someone who loves figuring out how things work and pushing them to do creative, clever, or unexpected things — NOT necessarily a criminal.
Example: "A real hacker builds things. The media just never got the memo."
In mainstream media and popular usage: a person who gains unauthorized access to computer systems. Security professionals distinguish between 'black hat' (malicious) and 'white hat' (ethical) hackers.
Etymology
- 1960s
- MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club uses 'hack' to mean an elegant technical solution
- 1975
- The Jargon File begins documenting hacker culture and terminology
- 1983
- WarGames movie popularizes 'hacker' as someone who breaks into systems
- 1996
- ESR publishes 'How To Become A Hacker', trying to reclaim the word
Origin Story
The word that means genius at MIT and criminal on CNN
The term **hacker** originated at MIT in the late 1950s, where it meant someone who explored systems for the joy of understanding them. The Tech Model Railroad Club used 'hack' for an elegant or clever technical solution. It was a compliment.
The meaning split in the 1980s when the media began using 'hacker' for computer criminals. The 1983 film *WarGames* and the 1986 arrest of the '414s' (Milwaukee teenagers who broke into government computers) cemented the criminal connotation in public consciousness.
The hacker community fought back with terminology: **white hat** (ethical), **black hat** (criminal), and **grey hat** (ambiguous). Eric Raymond's *Jargon File* and Paul Graham's essays championed the original meaning. But the media meaning won -- which is why companies have 'security researchers' instead of 'hackers.'
Coined by: MIT Tech Model Railroad Club
Context: MIT, late 1950s
Fun fact: The original MIT hackers had an ethical code: access to computers should be unlimited, information should be free, and you should be judged by your hacking, not degrees or titles. These principles became the foundation of the open-source movement decades later.