When you say the word “hacker” you receive a vast range of responses from those around you. Some regard a hacker as a common criminal bent on self gain. Some remember the 1995 movie staring Fisher Stevens and Angelina Jolie. Still others place hackers in the aura of a supposed mythical world of computer geniuses.

Teenagers revere them, adults worry about them and big business/governments absolutely fear them. So what is a hacker? A hacker is a person who seeks to learn all possible ways to interact with a system. In some cases this means actually breaking into a computer system.

Let’s take a look at these innovative and controversial people and the main points in history that brought about modern hacking:

In 1960, MIT played host to the first hackers. The name was originally used by the university’s model train group who would “hack” the train track and controllers to improve the performance of their trains. Some of these bright minds eventually turned to improving the university’s main frame computer.

In the 70’s we saw the emergence of Phone Phreaks. These hackers learned ways to exploit the national and international phone system. They were able to make free phone calls and explore the phone network simply by whistling the correct frequencies into a phone line.

In the 1980’s many new changes occurred including the formation of organized hacking groups. The Legion of Doom and Chaos Computer Club were among the first groups to form.

In 1990 Operation Sundevil, conducted by the US Secret Service, all but destroyed the hacker community as agents conducted early morning raids and arrests in 14 major cities.

1993 saw the first Def Con hacking conference. Def Con is still organized annually and officially attended by US government security administrations who actively recruit hackers.

In 1995, Kevin Mitnick, possibly the most famous hacker of all time, was arrested and charged with stealing 20,000+ credit card numbers. He was released after a short stay in prison and currently runs a private security company.

1998 saw the release of Back Orifice, a very powerful hacking program released by the Cult of the Dead Cow. The program allowed hackers to completely take control of a victim’s computer.

Activism and Hacking Meet

Hactivism is the merger of hacking and activism. The hacktivist, a powerful new breed of hacker, can be good or bad, depending on your view of the world. Because of the vast differences in world views held by people on earth, we can’t really make a blanket statement about Hactivism or the hackers involved.

To better understand Hactivism let’s look at an example hacker group. The Hong Kong Blondes are based in; you guessed it, Hong Kong and actively combat the Communist Party of China. Their purpose is to find and exploit security holes in the Communist government’s computer networks.

In 1998 The Blondes shut down a Chinese government communications satellite. This is a prime example of Hactivism in action. I would consider this a good thing; hindering the spread of Communism, if you will. Unfortunately, if a group decided that they didn’t like McDonald’s new french-fry recipe, they could conduct a hacking spree on McDonalds and according to the definition, this would also be an act of Hacktivism.

I prefer to think of those fighting for liberty to be the true Hacktivists. The Hong Kong Blondes are constantly in fear for their lives. Think of any spy movie you might have seen recently. Secret meetings at the corner coffee shop, coded messages passed from person to person; it’s reality for the Blondes.

As we complain about the price of strawberries and gasoline, half a world away people actively battle a regime that ran over their families with tanks in the town square.

I don’t agree with everything Hactivists say, in fact I disagree with a lot of their rhetoric. But in some cases, in places like Hong Kong, you might just find that a hacker is liberty’s best friend.

In the spring of 1995, at Stanford University Ph. D. candidates, Sergey Brin and Larry Page met for the first time. By the end of that year they had developed the basic technology that powers Google, the most powerful search engine on the Internet. After raising $1million in 1998, Google was incorporated, and as all great computer companies do, set up shop in a garage. By mid 1998 10,000 searches per day were performed using Google, and PC Magazine listed google.com among its “Top 100 Sites”.

Many have heard the name Google, but few know from whence it came. Google, is a play on the mathematic term “googol” which means a very large number; specifically, the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Google is the most ambitious and forward thinking search company on the planet. Their public mission states, “Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Quite a tall order for one company, yet strangely enough they are succeeding. With over 8 billion web pages indexed, free email, a news service, image search, TV program searching, shopping search, online maps and satellite images all provided free, Google is well on its way.

Just recently Google announced their latest endeavor, Google Print; which is a 10 year project to digitize and make available online 15 million printed books from several large libraries. This shook up the European Union causing several countries, lead by French President Jacques Chirac, to ask the EU to foot the bill for a European online repository to rival Google. Their goal is to stem the so-called American cultural imperialism.

While using Google yesterday it occurred to me how many different Google tools are available, yet many people don’t know about them. So I invite you on a trek through the Google universe.

Most people know how to do a standard search at google.com, just type in your subject and hit enter. However, here are some neat tips you will find helpful:

• Have you ever found that phone number you jotted down last week but can’t remember who it belongs to? Just enter the phone number with area code in Google and you will get a phone listing for that person.
• Let’s say your study of world art leads you to need a definition for “virelay”. Try entering “define: virelay”. Google will return a dictionary definition.
• You just bought an antique sword on eBay from a seller in England for 150 GBP. Just enter “150 GBP in USD” and Google will return your cost in US dollars.
• Let’s get a quick stock update on Cisco Systems. Just enter the ticker symbol, in this case “CSCO”, and Google will return a chart.
• Homeland Security is a big deal. We know the department’s official website, but additional info can be gained from third party web sites. Search for “related: www.dhs.gov” and Google will return a list of web sites that refer to dhs.gov.

There are many more tips and tricks to using Google’s standard search. You can learn more at http://www.google.com/help/features.html.

August 9th, 2005, the space shuttle Discovery glided to a perfect landing at Edwards Air Force base in California. Many Americans and space enthusiasts from around the world were glued to their TVs before and during the landing. The return of the shuttle was big news and the big media outlets like CNN were showing off their new 3D visualizations of the shuttle flight path. We all stared in amazement as CNN reporters talked us through the animation, flying right to the runway from space.

Would it surprise you to know CNN uses Google Earth, a new program from Google, to show these stunning visualizations? What’s more, you can download Google Earth to your home computer, for free.

I recently downloaded this impressive program and spent hours flying over the Earth in style. The interactive interface is awesome to say the least. You start out looking at a 3D Earth, then just type in an address or well known location and you fly right down to a close-up 3D satellite image.

I’ve never had the chance to visit the Grand Canyon, but last night I flew like a bird through the canyon, all on my home computer. To get Google Earth, check out earth.google.com.

We barely scratched the surface of what Google provides. You can dig deeper and learn more about Google at http://www.google.com/about.html.