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It depends on your definition of the term hacking.

The modern usage is to break into a computer to do something you would not normally be allowed to do. This is wrong. It is illegal. It is unethical. You can go to jail for hacking. Don't do it.

The older usage, is to delve into a computer or piece of equipment and know it so well that you are one with it. Original computer wizards back in the 60's and 70's were called hackers, and that was an honorable term, because it meant you had spent the time to learn the machine inside and out.

Problem is, that modern usage has damaged the credibility of true hacking. There is still a need for people that understand the computer inside and out, but the term hacker has been vilified to the point that I will not call myself a hacker in mixed company without explaining, which I am presently doing.

Perhaps the better term for what goes on today is cracking, as opposed to hacking. Unfortunately, the stigma remains.

Bottom line - hacking to get access to something you should not have access to is wrong, and that answers the question. Hacking to understand the technology - now that is a good thing, but we need a better term than hacker in this day and age.

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13y ago

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