A Brief Introduction of Hack from its Original Meaning with Reflections. Presentation in Open Source Tech Day @ ITFest 2015 Hong Kong

1. Hack – Good or Evil
Prepared and Presented
by Haggen
Released under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong Licence

2. Who is She?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Regina_Ip_at_VP_Ne
w_Year_Fair_2009.jpg CC-BY-3.0 by Wrightbus

3. Hacked?
收「錢果豐求救電郵」開附件中招葉劉被黑客盜 50
–萬元 蘋果
葉劉遇黑客被盜 50 –萬 東方
Regina Ip's email hacked, losses HK$500,000 -
China Daily Asia

4. Hackathon
MoDev HK 2015 - China-Hong Kong-Taiwan
Hackathon @IT Fest 2015?
Ref: http://timable.com/en/event/817863

5. Hack - Oxford Dictionary
• cut roughly or clumsily, chop
• person paid to do hard and uninteresting work
as a writer

6. Hack - Hacker Dictionary
• Originally, a quick job that produces what is
needed, but not well.
• An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-
consuming, piece of work that produces exactly
what is needed.
• 7 More definitions

7. The MIT Tradition

8. The MIT Tradition
Links
http://hacks.mit.edu/
http://hacks.mit.edu/books/ihtfp_leibowitz/
http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/1999/r2d2/
http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/1990/vest_bboard

9. Cap'n Crunch
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74845103@N00/279505346/ CC-BY
2.0 by akaalias

10. Cap'n Crunch (Cont.)
John T Drapper
http://www.webcrunchers.com/

11. What is Hack?
Surprising Result from Simple Means
Demonstration of Mastery in the Domain
Turkle (1984), p.227

12. What is Hack?
Oxford Dictionary – Rough and Clumsy Cut
Quick and Dirty Hack
Clever Hack
Demonstration of Mastery in Simplicity

13. Early Hacker Culture
Access to computers-and anything
which might teach you something
about the way the world works
- Should be unlimited and total
- Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative!

14. Early Hacker Culture
All information should be free

15. Early Hacker Culture
Mistrust Authority-Promote Decentralization

16. Early Hacker Culture
Hackers should be judged by their hacking,
not bogus criteria such as
degrees, age, race or position

17. Early Hacker Culture
You can create art and beauty on a computer

18. Early Hacker Culture
Computers can change your life for the better

19. Quick Summary
Hack as an ideal to pursuit
Technical Excellence

20. History of Software
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Honeywell-
Bull_DPS_7_Mainframe_BWW_March_1990.jpg, CC-BY-SA 3.0
by Ferdi

21. Apple ][+ Clone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Taiwanese_Apple_II_clone_Cos
mo.jpg, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Licence, by A-giâu

22. Changes in Computer Industry
• Rise of Personal Computers
• Widening of Market – Horizontal Market
Possible
• Secrecy and Profitability – Closed Source

23. Source Code
• Computer Instructions are coded in binary
format 00101...
• A more human friendly method to program
computer:
/* Hello World program */
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{ printf("Hello World"); }
• Convert source code into binary instructions by
a computer compiler

24. Richard M. Stallman
The Last of the True Hackers?
http://www.stallman.org/saintignucius.jpg, CC-BY-ND 3.0

25. Responses of Richard Stallman
• Release source code that could not be used
commercially
• Release source code that must remain freely
available -> Software Freedom
• 1983 GNU project, Unix Clone
• 1985 Free Software Foundation, Free as in
Free Speech, General Public License (GPL)

26. Free Software
• The freedom to run the program, for any
purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works,
and change it to make it do what you wish
(freedom 1). Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.

27. Free Software
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can
help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and
release your improvements (and modified
versions in general) to the public, so that the
whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access
to the source code is a precondition for this.

28. General Public License (GPL)
• One of the implementations of the 4 Freedom
• Most used Free/Open Source License
• Contract based on Copyright
• Expression of the Hacker Ideal

29. • End of 90s, Most Notable Project – Linux
• Eric Raymond - Revenge of the Hackers
• Pavlicek (Embracing Insanity, OSS Dev.) -
Geek Culture (truth, doing) as core value
Relationship to Revival of
Free Software Movement

30. Quick Summary
Hack as an ideal to pursuit
Technical Excellence

31. Hacking Today

32. Hackathons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Hackatho
n_2013,_Amsterdam_-_Flickr_-_Sebastiaan_ter_Burg_
%2828%29.jpg CC-BY 2.0 by Sebastiaan ter Burg

33. Hacker Space
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Electrolab_Hackersp
ace_06,_July_2013.jpg CC-BY-SA 2.0 by Mitch Altman

34. Simple Hacks in Daily Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfFKT-VtK4s
http://pixabay.com/id/gantungan-baju-lemari-mantel-hook-
147765/ CC0

35. LifeHack
http://www.lifehack.org/

36. Should we still use this Word?

37. Should we try to change the World?
Crack not Hack?

38. Should we emphasis on Depth?

39. Motivation to have depth of Knowledge
For money?
Evil purposes?

40. No time for play and fun?
No time to do good?
Pursuit Tech in a Pure Sense

41. Levy, S. (1984). Hackers: Heroes of The Computer Revolution.
Garden City, New York, Anchor Press/Doubleday.
Pavlicek, R. C. (2000). Embracing Insanity: Open Source
Software Development. Indiana, Sams.
Turkle, S. (1984). The Second Self: Computers and the Human
Spirit. New York, Simon & Schuster.
Williams, S. (2002). Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's
Crusade for Free Software, CA, O'Reilly.
References