The article that sparked me to write this ( here in Google translate) is titled “Why Hackers are so Important for Society.” You know why, and I know why because we take things apart and think about how they work on a fundamental level: from consumer electronics to encryption protocols. If you answered, “just yesterday, in one of the nation’s most important newspapers”, then you’re living in Germany. If you can’t remember a single instance in this century, you’re living in the USA. But think about the last time you heard the word “hacker” used in anything but its negative sense in the popular press. The discussion over who’s a “hacker” is as old as the hills, by Internet standards anyway, and it’s not going to get settled here. Who exactly are “hackers” anyway? Are we talking about the folks blackmailing you for your account details on Ashley Madison? Or stealing credit card numbers from Target? Or are we talking about the folks who have a good time breaking stuff and building stuff, and taking things apart to see how they work? Say the word “hacker” in different social circles, and you never know what kind of response you’re going to get. But there’s one thing that hackers in the USA are still lacking that German hackers have had for a while: respect. Both countries have seen hackerspaces bloom in the last decade to the point that there’s probably one or two in whatever city you’re living in. Reading Hackaday, you’ll find similar projects coming out of both countries. Hacker culture in Germany and the US is very similar in a lot of ways, from the relative mix of hardware versus software types to the side-affinities for amateur radio and blinkenlights.
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