Originally the term hacker was used to refer to someone who is enthusiastic about computing, spends a lot of time figuring out how computers work, and is adept at using computers to accomplish extraordinary feats. Hacking referred to the activities of hackers. In the early days of computing hackers were exploring the full potential of computers: They were figuring out what it was possible to achieve with computers, doing things that had never been done before. In this sense hackers were like the imaginative mechanics of the early Industrial Revolution, automotive hot-rodders, barnstorming airplane pilots, and ham radio operators. In those early days there were few laws or policies specifying what individuals were allowed to do or prohibited from doing with computers. Many of the feats that hackers accomplished subsequently became illegal, for example, breaking into private systems, examining what was in those systems and how...