Hacking and Digital Counter Culture

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Hacking and Digital Counter Culture

Hacking was first introduced as a new way to embrace and utilize computer technology. Many of the hackers then saw the technology as a way to demonstrate their independence and aims to share this to the public and they used the computer to achieve this. In the last couple of years however, hacking has been given a new connotation. It became connected with criminal and illegal activities which is totally different from what the hackers had in mind when they initially used and created new technologies.

At present, the use of computer technologies and its related technologies is once again changing and reverting to its original ideals and concept. It is predicted that this new trend shall continue to influence the way and shall set a new course the computer technology is used globally.

This paper looks into the evolution of hacking since its birth in the 50’s and the 60’s to the present. A focus on the cross cultures then and now shall demonstrate how hacking and hackers have become associated with illegal activity. The paper shall answer the question as to whether counter cultures enforced the negativity or whether mainstream culture portrays hacking in a negative way.

I. Definition and Evolution of Hacking

Hacking is defined as 1) “the hobby/profession of working with computers and 2) breaking into computer systems” (Definition). The two definitions is a perfect example of how hacking evolved over the years. The first definition was first used to describe the people who work with computers. They are the ones considered as the first hackers. Although this definition is still being used today, the second definition has become the more acceptable definition of hacking. The action has now b...

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Markoff, John. What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry. New York: Viking, 2005. Print.

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Trigaux, Robert. St. Petersburg Times. 2002. Web. 25 April 2014.

Turkle, Sherry. "Hackers: Loving the Machine for Itself." The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. 183-218. Print.

Turner, Fred. "Taking the Whole Earth Digital." From Counterculture to Cyberculture Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism . Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2006. 103-118. Print.

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