Hacking provides an introduction to the community of hackers and ananalysis of the meaning of hacking in twenty-first centurysocieties.
On the one hand, hackers infect the computers of the world,entering where they are not invited, taking over not justindividual workstations but whole networks. On the other, hackerswrite the software that fuels the Internet, from the most popularweb programmes to software fundamental to the Internet's existence.Beginning from an analysis of these two main types of hackers,categorised as crackers and Free Software/Open Source respectively,Tim Jordan gives the reader insight into the varied identities ofhackers, including:
* Hacktivism; hackers and populist politics
* Cyberwar; hackers and the nation-state
* Digital Proletariat; hacking for the man
* Viruses; virtual life on the Internet
* Digital Commons; hacking without software
* Cypherpunks; encryption and digital security
* Nerds and Geeks; hacking cultures or hacking without thehack
* Cybercrime; blackest of black hat hacking
Hackers end debates over the meaning of technologicaldeterminism while recognising that at any one moment we are allalways determined by technology. Hackers work constantly withindeterminations of their actions created by technologies as theyalso alter software to enable entirely new possibilities for andlimits to action in the virtual world. Through this fascinatingintroduction to the people who create and recreate the digitalmedia of the Internet, students, scholars and general readers willgain new insight into the meaning of technology and society whendigital media are hacked.