The Sunday Times Mirror - Hackers at your service

Easily one of the most misunderstood and misconstrued words in the English language, it has driven fear into governments, created quite a sensation with the media, been a movie-maker’s dream and been the cause of much excitement and curiosity among youth! What is this ‘all powerful,’ elusive word you ask…why it's H-A-C-K-E-R-S of course! The first thought that instantaneously pops into my mind whenever I hear the word ‘hacker’ – is that of Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), in the movie Swordfish.

Apart from the fact that he looked soooo 'hot' in the movie, Jobson was also a convicted hacker in the film. However, not just Hollywood, but even the media has contributed largely, to the widely held (me included) phenomenon that hackers are in fact ‘the bag guys.’

This, however, I learnt is not quite the picture at all... Now, enlightened, I’m still just as fascinated by the whole concept of ‘hacking’ as I ever was!

First and foremost, let’s begin by clearing the air, ‘hacking,’ in its truest form means – one who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff some would even say. The term often refers to any programmer, but its true meaning is someone with a strong technical background who is ‘hacking away’ at the ‘bits and bytes.’

The whole thing went haywire during the 1990’s, when the term ‘hacker’ became synonymous with the term ‘cracker,’ who is a person who performs some form of computer sabotage. The association is understandable considering that in order to be an effective cracker you had to be a good hacker, thus the two terms got intertwined, and hacker won out in the popular press.

At the recently held ‘Hackerthon’ (which was a part of the ApacheCon) organised by the Apache Software Foundation, in Sri Lanka, I got the chance to see and meet not one, but dozens of hackers from around the world.

Having never come face-to-face with a hacker before I had no idea what to expect. However, a smiley-faced man with a black velvet ‘thing-a-ma-jig’ on his head and what seemed to be a miniscule keyboard shaped like a mouse (a ‘Chording Keyboard,’ I was later told) strapped onto his hand, was the furthermost image I had in mind! Best known for his packet driver collection and for creating the open source software ‘Freemacs’ – Russell Nelson from the USA, having started off as just an ordinary software developer, has come to be known as one of the best known hackers in the world! “It’s quite a scary thought that ‘Freemacs’ is still being used, 23 years since its creation,” he said laughing. Having entered the ‘big time’ as a result of him discovering a software compatible with Richard Stallman’s (known as the ‘God Father’ of hackers) Text Editor, he was encouraged by Stallmen, to share his software with others, rather than to sell it.

“This prospect evoked some sympathy in me and then on began my contribution to the world of ‘Open Source Software’,” he said. Developing programmes is very similar to fashion or art, as his previous work acts as an automatic advertisement to his next work and is also quite expressive, however, unlike fashion and art, these programmes are also functional, he added. “This is one of the main reasons why I’ve stayed in the ‘hacking’ business for the past 15 years,” he said.

“Most of the companies/institutes/organisations that hire me have no problem with me giving my programmes away after I create it for them, as it would hardly be valuable to anyone else. But, on the other hand university students and the like, can have access to any of this open source software, learn how to use an Intel product, have some fun working with it, at no extra cost to them,” he said quite gleefully.

“Overall, it’s been the passion of creation; the ability to take things people have never nailed together and do it, that’s kept me going. Also this line of work enabled me to buy and play with all types of toys, travel, talk to people and basically indulge in a very enjoyable lifestyle,” said Nelson of his work.

“I’ve taught myself everything I know and continue to learn things on the job, especially since it’s an ever -evolving industry. However, College education did help me learn things I didn’t know I needed to know,” he said with a laugh.

Hacker, David Recordon also from the USA and working for VeriSign says, “Hacking makes your mind think when you’re bored, just like reading a good book. It may not be technically correct in a computer science perspective, but it’s still a lot of fun.”

His first experience with computers was when he was just a second grader and his teacher taught them how to play ‘Logo’ (turtle drawing) on the computer. From then onwards he gradually progressed into developing forum software, a large community site where all types of social problems can be resolved, he explained. “It came to a point where I would create all types of cool stuff simply for the sake of making cool stuff, as it’s not necessarily money that drives me,” he said.

He explained how these conferences are the ideal place for hackers from across the globe to actually get a chance to put a name to the face of all the developers they’ve been corresponding with all this while via e-mail or blogs.

“You can understand the personalities and mentalities of each other and learn to develop in collaborating with one another, he explained. For instance, instead of two people working individually on similar projects, it’s so much more effective to pick from one another, creating much better code in the process,” he added.