The Hacker's Ethic Sadly, due to the traditional ignorance and sensationalizing of the mass media, the once-noble term hacker has become a perjorative. Among true computer people, being called a hacker is a compliment. One of the traits of the true hacker is a profoundly antibureaucratic and democratic spirit. That spirit is best exemplified by the Hacker's Ethic. This ethic was best formulated by Steven Levy in his 1984 book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Its tenets are as follows: o Access to computers should be unlimited and total. o All information should be free. o Mistrust authority - promote decentralization. o Hackers should be judged by their hacking not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position. o You create art and beauty on a computer. o Computers can change your life for the better. The Internet as a whole reflects this ethic.