All hackers (good and evil) share a core belief that information should be free. This was distilled into text for the first time by Steven Levy in his 1984 book Hackers. In the book, Levy outlined The Hacker Ethic — a code of beliefs embraced by nearly all computer hackers. The ethics weren’t crafted by Steven Levy or any one person to dictate how hackers should act, rather they’re a reflection of the hacker culture that has grown organically over many decades.
My hope in sharing The Hacker Ethic here is to give you a deeper understanding of how hackers think. One day you may hire a hacker, work with one, or wish to become one yourself. In that case, consider this your first step into their culture. These are the top four principles of The Hacker Ethic.
1. “Information should be free”
“Free” information means the freedom to copy existing code and to share that information with others.
The first generation of hackers began with a group of students at MIT in the 1950s. After hours, they would sneak into the Lincoln Library on campus where they’d vie for a few hours to play with the $3 million TX-0 computer. Unlike today where most students have individual laptops, passwords, and seemingly unlimited time to spend on their computers, the MIT hackers shared just one computer. There were no passwords, so any one person’s code could be viewed by anyone else on the system. The early hackers were ok with this. More than ok, actually, because they quickly found value in sharing code.
The original MIT hackers quickly began collaborating on building software. Why build competing versions of software, when we can instead work together to share knowledge and create the very best version? That’s the hackers way.
Today the entire world benefits from the decisions of these early hackers.
One of the most meaningful outcomes is the Free and Open Source Software movement. Started by Richard Stallman in 1985, the free software movement encourages millions of people to share, copy, and remix code.
The GPL License (written by Richard Stallman), and the MIT License are two examples of software licenses that render The Hacker Ethic into a legal text. “Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software…,” says the opening paragraph of the MIT license.
These licenses help explain why no one “owns” the internet (as we’ll discuss in future chapters). Back in the 1990s, Tim Berners Lee released his original World Wide Web software under the MIT license. When Napster was shut down in 2001, it was easy for copycat sites to pop up because — you guessed it — open source versions were already free to share!
2. Computers can change your life for the better
Hackers see computer programming not merely as a technical pursuit, but also as a tool for making the world a better place.
For example, hackers can write code to automate redundant tasks…
And they spread free information with the goal of improving the quality of human life…
This tenet of using computers to “improve life for the better” goes all the way back to Vannevar Bush who, in 1945, published the essay “As We May Think,” in which he pressed scientists to stop building war machines and to consider using technology as a force for good.
These days, the phrase “make the world a better place” has become so embedded in Silicon Valley culture that it’s satirized as a running gag on the TV series Silicon Valley. On the show, every startup founder seems to justify their actions through the mantra “we’re making the world a better place.”
Whether hackers these days are authentically upholding The Hacker Ethic, or just paying it lip service is up for debate. What remains true is The Hacker Ethic’s influence on both hacker culture and our society.
3. Mistrust authority — promote decentralization
Hackers are encouraged to think critically and to challenge the status quo.
In the 1960s, Americans were wary of organizations where only a few powerful people controlled the flow of information. Think: Nazi Germany, The Soviet Union spying vigilantly its own people, and the omen “Big Brother is watching you” as described in George Orwell’s 1984. Hackers promote decentralization in order to dilute the concentration of power and fight to redistribute that power among the many.
One way hackers promote decentralization is by building tools. Bitcoin is a tool that was created by Satoshi Nakamoto that completely removes the authority (and thus power) of banks. Bitcoin allows individuals to manage, send and receive money in a decentralized manner.
Hackers also promote decentralization in their social organizations. WordPress is a software ecosystem that was created by thousands of developers around the world — most of who have never met each other. Many startups attempt to emulate this model of communication with flat company structure (aka. A boss-less culture) so that employees can make decisions without constantly needing to ask permission.
4. Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not based on degrees, age, race, sex, or position
Hackers judge each other by the quality of their code. This helps explain how Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg could drop out of Harvard build billion dollar companies. Code is meritocratic.
A hacker doesn’t need permission to hack. Your ability is not defined by who you know, or your expensive computer science degree. If your dog writes JavaScript better than you, then the dog should be hired. As Bill Gates has said, “If you want to hire an engineer, look at the guy’s code. That’s all.”
Final Thoughts
In the 1960s, The Hacker Ethic was story that helped organize strangers around a single mission: keep code free, and make the world a better place. Everything was buzzing along smoothly. And then someone kicked the nest. Continue reading my series on the history of the internet to learn more!
