Sometimes I wonder what the demographics are, really. Are 98% of hackers well-educated guys from MIT working for NASA or RedHat? Or is it the case that I've occasionally found myself in, romanticizing a culture & defending its ethos & values, until one day my eyes are opened and I realize 98% of are really just misfits, thugs, or crooks.
Fast & Furious comes to mind unbidden- lots of young men love cars, speed, driving. Here's a movie celebrating their earnest passion. Oh, by the way, in case you weren't paying attention the cast is a crime ring and fast cars are how they evade the law.
Same question goes for bitcoin- and lo, it seems these men were involved in that too.
That largely depends on what your definition of "hacker" is.
It has changed over the years to a completely different meaning, hacking was never meant to be a direct reference to criminal activity but that seems to be where it has evolved
The hacking culture was more about using technology, systems, or anything really in ways not originally intended by the manufacturer, or administrator of said system, technology or object
That can be either legal or illegal but the act of hacking itself was not legal or illegal it depended on the system or object you where hacking
Today however people almost exclusively use the term hacker to refer to criminal activity
Thoughtful critique / history of Smart Cities. Adam Greenfield's book 'Against the Smart City (The city is here for you to use)' is required reading for anyone interested in the topic.
