Has “hacker” definitely gained a negative connotation?

Question

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a hacker as:

• One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff.
• One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file.

I was surprised to find a neutral/positive definition which, as the word history shows below, was the original connotation of the term.

Word History:

• Computer programmers started using the word hacker in the 1960s as a positive term for a person of skillful programming ability. The usage probably derives from hack meaning "to chop," or from hacker, "an amateurish player, as at golf." As time went on, hacker became less positive, however. Already in the 1960s, engineering students at such universities as Cal Tech used the related noun hack to mean "an ingenious prank." Among the pranks that some computer programmers would engage in, of course, were break-ins into other computer systems. As such break-ins attracted national attention, the media seized upon the word hacker as the label for the perpetrators—a usage that many programmers object to because they know it used to be a term of praise.

Questions:

Has "hacker" still a neutral/positive meaning or has it definitely gained a negative reputation?

When did this semantic change happen?

What terms are commonly used instead of "hacker" with a positive connotation?

Answer 1

Has "hacker" still a neutral/positive meaning or has it definitely gained a negative reputation?

Among the general public, hacker still has a negative connotation. With the exception of "life hacks", a fairly new phenomenon, the most usual use of the work hacker in media is related people who commit crimes by computers or other advanced electronic devices.

When did this semantic change happen?

This happened because of years (decades) of media coverage. From my understanding, it started mostly in the late 70's or early 80's, and has persisted to the current day. Since the media considers anyone that's extremely skilled with computers a hacker, and most of what they report are crimes, the negative connotation was bound to happen sooner or later.

What terms are commonly used instead of "hacker" with a positive connotation?

Among ethical hackers, hacker is the preferred term, while they use negative terms for other types of "wannabees", such as "script kiddies", "crackers" (people that crack a system for malicious intent), and so on. Real hackers are offended when you include criminals in the same group as them, the same as you'd be offended if you were accused of something you didn't do. Here's the Jargon File's definition of a hacker (which is the hacker's definition of a hacker):

hacker: n. [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]

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. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.

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 for this sense is cracker.

The term ‘hacker’ also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see the network. For discussion of some of the basics of this culture, see the How To Become A Hacker FAQ. It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see 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). See also geek, wannabee.

This term seems to have been first adopted as a badge in the 1960s by the hacker culture surrounding TMRC and the MIT AI Lab. We have a report that it was used in a sense close to this entry's by teenage radio hams and electronics tinkerers in the mid-1950s.

While you can use terms like "white hat" or "ethical hacker" as a positive connotation to "outsiders," the truth is that "ethical hacker" is considered redundant, since hackers are, by the subculture's definition, ethical, and most hackers (probably) wouldn't be caught wearing a white hat, unless they really felt the need for irony.

When you're speaking about criminals, try to avoid the term "hacker," because they're not part of that global community/subculture-- there are more appropriate terms for them, even if you might have to explain what you're talking about. The correct term to use when speaking about the global community of skilled computer enthusiasts is "hacker."

Answer 2

Yes, it definitely has gained a negative connotation. In much the same way as terms like "teen" or "youth", used as a noun. They are often enough used to refer to people in that group when they are doing something wrong. A small amount of googling reveals a number of news articles about "youths" and "teens" doing things wrong.

Hacker is similar, unless you are in the field of technology, you'll probably only hear the word 'hacker' used to refer to someone breaking through IT security systems.

It is used, within the field, in a positive way, simply meaning that people are using technology in a way it wasn't specifically intended to. If you go to a Hack Day, you won't be stealing data or breaking into people's bank accounts.

However, most people don't know this, but do know that people described as hackers break past security on the internet to steal data or money. So, unfortunately, it's more likely to be understood with a negative connotation.

Answer 3

Ethics aside, let's stick to the word alone. Hacker is used more commonly now in everyday speech with it's original intention thanks to meme culture. I hear "Life-hacker" way more then I hear hacker ( as in someone who gains unlawful access to a computer system ) and I work in an I.T. field. The idea of life hacking takes the word hack to the days of tinkering and finding effective ways to make things work.

Answer 4

It has gained both a negative connotation (which it did since almost the first time the word was published in mainstream literature) and paradoxically it has also gained a positive connotation (which, among the general public, is a more recent phenomenon).

The word hacker has recently started regaining its original meaning of someone who is skilled at problem solving and workarounds. The term hack itself is nowdays used to refer to creative solutions to problems. Websites like hackaday.com and lifehacker.com have been gaining popularity outside the usual geek/tech subculture especially with the rise of Facebook.

At the same time, programmers have begun to accept the term hacker that is used with a negative connotation when it relates to someone who exploit other people's systems. This is partly because it's easier to talk to people about computer security using the word "hacker" rather than first explain why the word "hacker" is the wrong word to use.

So depending on context, the word hacker can have either positive or negative connotation. When it comes to computers, you sometimes need to clarify which you mean.

Answer 5

Adding to AJFaraday's answer, I can only answer your third question and the term white hat (hacker) is broadly used to distinguish ethical computer hackers from criminal hackers. The following Wikipedia article explains:

The term "white hat" in Internet slang refers to an ethical computer hacker, or a computer security expert, who specializes in penetration testing and in other testing methodologies to ensure the security of an organization's information systems. Ethical hacking is a term coined by IBM meant to imply a broader category than just penetration testing. White-hat hackers may also work in teams called "sneakers", red teams, or tiger teams.

A white hat hacker breaks security for non-malicious reasons, perhaps to test their own security system or while working for a security company which makes security software...This classification also includes individuals who perform penetration tests and vulnerability assessments within a contractual agreement.

A computer security expert is the general term that has a positive connotation.

Answer 6

I don't think the original connotation was entirely positive. A hacker would write effective code to get something done quickly, but it might not be a well-engineered solution.

Answer 7

Adding to Michael Kay's answer. This is a case of the word meaning different things to different groups. The programming community has always used the term differently from the general public.

The original meaning of the term "hacker" within the programming community was definitely negative. It referred to a moderately skilled programmer who was able to solve problems more by trial and error and perseverance than by having a good understanding of the problem area. And the work of hackers was suspect, because it would often fail in circumstances that the hacker had failed to consider. Programmers would sometimes refer to themselves as hackers while learning to navigate unfamiliar systems, as a way of saying that they were not yet experts. The term "hacker" was somewhat related to the term "kludge," which has retained its largely negative meaning. A hacker would be more likely to use a kludge rather than an elegant solution. But "hacker" was never completely negative the way "hack" (from which it presumably derived) is. A hacker will eventually get the problem (sort of) solved. A hack just doesn't know what he's doing.

The positive meaning started coming about around 1980, entirely through the media and entertainment industry misunderstanding the term and then popularizing the incorrect meaning out in the general culture. This new meaning then partially drifted back into the programming community. The people who "hacked into" computer systems may or may not have referred to themselves as hackers, but once it started showing up in movies, that's what they became. (At the time, I remember them being offended, and preferring the term "cracker"). But in any event, the media types considered defeating security systems to be quite difficult and somewhat glamorous, and presumed that therefore that is what the best of the best programmers would choose to do, and from that decided that the term "hacker" referred to a highly skilled programmer. And that's the meaning that the general public knows.

Within the programming community, the meaning of hacker as someone who defeats security systems has stuck, and is used ubiquitously. But the meaning of "highly skilled programmer" never took hold. It has always meant, and still means, pretty much the opposite. So you have an interesting situation where among the general public the word means one thing, but within the group that it refers to, it means something quite different.

Answer 8

Perhaps much of the negative connotation stems from non-native English writers adopting the word in criminal case reporting, whilst remaining clueless about its underlying, more neutral meaning.

Answer 9

Back in the mid-sixties we used non-hacker to describe someone not well-versed in copying morse code, but seldom used the positive hacker to identify someone who could keep up with some very fast senders. Non-hacker migrated to a person not adept at a given task ("Barfed after 10 beers - what a non-hacker.)

Answer 10

As far as computers go, "hacker" started with negative connotation. I find the (disorganized) campaign to bleach it (e.g. "white hat" hackers, creating the term "cracker" to take the negative connotations, etc.) a childish reaction to the reality of general perception.

"To hack" is to cleave and cut. Trying to inject benign intent is too subtle.

Answer 11

To the modern day general public hacker is different across groups (for instance the generation gap).To the younger generation a hacker is seen as a cool elitist person who has the ability to break into "secure computer systems". To the older generations a hacker is someone who breaks into computer systems just for malicious intent. I assume this dichotomy exists is becuase kids have an easier time using technology than their aging peers and aren't as freaked out about it comparatively. We're talking about a generation who's grown up with technology and uses lolspeak in everyday conversation and a generation that only saw mobile phones in the later halves of their lives and still watches the news on TV.

Hacker may have started off negatively as a way to describe a computer programmer who wasn't incredibly good but could throw a hack together to solve a problem that just barely worked. However it apparently transitioned (or started off) to mean a kind of "underdog programmer"; someone with passion for the art of programming but not a lot of knowhow or maybe just enough to be dangerous. Underdog groups tend to revel in their labels as outcasts and this is most likely where the hacker culture formed since these hackers were just groups of guys on a university campus tinkering with computer systems becuase they loved it. Coding became an art form. It might've stemmed from "they just hacked that together", but they eventually redefined it to mean "look at this clever little trick" (the usage "It's just something I hacked together" in context is used to downplay something obviously awesome). They taught themselves or learned from someone who learned on their own; they weren't trained for a business or anything. An important part of the culture was the playfulness, which translated into pranks. The term hacker itself may have stemmed from pranks done at M.I.T. (see this wikipedia article).

Some related terms stemming from hacker are

• Phreaks (Phone Freaks) - People who studied the phone system. Wikipedia states, "Phone phreaking got its start in the late 1950s in the United States. Its golden age was the late 1960s and early 1970s. Phone phreaks spent a lot of time dialing around the telephone network to understand how the phone system worked, engaging in activities such as listening to the pattern of tones to figure out how calls were routed, reading obscure telephone company technical journals, learning how to impersonate operators and other telephone company personnel, digging through telephone company trash bins to find "secret" documents, sneaking into telephone company buildings at night and wiring up their own telephones, building electronic devices called blue boxes, black boxes, and red boxes to help them explore the network and make free phone calls, hanging out on early conference call circuits and "loop arounds" to communicate with one another and writing their own newsletters to spread information." For example '"Bill from New York", (William "Bill" Acker 1953-2015) began to develop a rudimentary understanding of how phone networks worked. Bill discovered that a recorder he owned could also play the tone at 2600 Hz with the same effect. John Draper discovered through his friendship with Engressia that the free whistles given out in Cap'n Crunch cereal boxes also produced a 2600 Hz tone when blown (providing his nickname, "Captain Crunch").'
• Cracker (See related Black Hat) - People who use their passion for computer programming and system understanding for nefarious purposes. It is a broad overarching title for people with differing expertise like "warez d00dz" (pronounced wares [from software] dudes) and "virus d00dz". "warez d00dz" produce "warez" which are essentially stolen software that has the safeties disabled (A copy of Windows 10 without the registration software in it active allowing you to use a free pirated copy of Window 10). From that I assume you can infer what "virus d00dz" produce.
• Script Kiddie - people with little to no computer knowledge who rely on pre-made scripts (code that does something) to break into or bypass systems. Essentially leeches, they piss off the more knowledgable hackers to no end.
• White, Gray, and Black Hats - A relatively recent modification to the word hacker, these were created to help the general public better understand that not all hackers are evil. A White Hat uses their knowledge for research and other good intended purposes. And example would be a paid systems researcher, who is hired by a software company to break in and test how secure their system is, allowing them to patch holes they may have missed. A Black Hat is someone who does it for crime. A Gray Hat is someone who does both, with each instance being whoever pays the most or just for fun.

The spreading of the negative connotations of the word hacker as people generally know it today is undoubtedly the fault of Hollywood and the media. Two of the biggest movies that I can think of that pushed the modern definition of the word hacker are Tron and WarGames. The public unveiling of the internet and the quick widespread adoption of it only furthered that definition, especially when the media got their hands on it. That mutilation mostly stems from the fact that the media outlets all have political agendas and the simple fact that the media has to describe these "digital break-ins" in a way that the general, less tech-savvy public can understand. The political agenda is important becuase central to the hacker subculture is an intense mistrust of authority. If you described it to someone "correctly" you could describe a bunch of communists, something that the U.S. Government would not be happy about back in the 60's. Closely related were the "Yippies" (google Abbie Hoffman and TAP Magazine). They all tended to share their research and "cool little tricks" with each other. Later on this "Free software ideology" translated to the Open Source Software Movement (though if you use that term around Richard Stallman he'll beat the life out of you).

So long story short:

Has "hacker" still a neutral/positive meaning or has it definitely gained a negative reputation?

It has definitely gained a negative reputation in the general publics eyes. If you're a part of the subculture though, then that's a different story.

When did this semantic change happen?

I personally think sometime in the late 70's and 80's, and it just got way worse in the 90's when the internet showed up.

What terms are commonly used instead of "hacker" with a positive connotation?

More professional and positive connotations would be something along the lines of:

• Computer Systems Expert
• Programmer
• Computer Scientist
• Computer Person (e.i. I need help, I'm not a computer person.)

In contrast LifeHack retains the positive D.I.Y. spirit of the original positive usage of "hack" (which is evident in the history of the word hacker when we're talking about computers). A "hack" in this case is a little trick that makes everyday life easier (see LifeHacker.com or the YouTube channel HouseholdHacker); something that depending on how abstract it is can make you go "Woah I've never thought about using my hairdryer like that before!"