Leader Technologies Inc. v. Facebook Inc.

Filing 537

DECLARATION re 529 Reply Brief, 528 Reply Brief, 534 Reply Brief, 533 Reply Brief, 531 Reply Brief, 536 Reply Brief, by Facebook Inc.(a Delaware corporation). (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 1, # 2 Exhibit 8, # 3 Exhibit 9)(Caponi, Steven)

EXHIBIT 8

Hack (technology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Hack (technology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hacking (English verb to hack, singular noun a hack) refers to the re-configuring or re-programming
of a system to function in ways not facilitated by the owner, administrator, or designer. The term(s) have
several related meanings in the technology and computer science fields, wherein a "hack" may refer to a
clever or quick fix to a computer program problem, or to what may be perceived to be a clumsy or
inelegant (but usually relatively quick) solution to a problem, such as a "kludge".
The terms "hack" and "hacking" are also used to refer to a modification of a program or device to give
the user access to features that were otherwise unavailable, such as by circuit bending. It is from this
usage that the term "hacking" is often used to refer to more nefarious criminal uses such as identity theft,
credit card fraud or other actions categorized as computer crime.

Contents
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1 Origin of term
2 History
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Origin of term
The term was used pejoratively by mathematician John Nash. When he became a C.L.E Moore
Instructor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1951, he brought this term with him.[1]
The term achieved widespread use in the 1960s and its meaning then evolved to a quick, elaborate
and/or bodged solution students devised for a technical obstacle; it was used with hacker, meaning one
who discovers and implements a hack. The Jargon File, a glossary of slang from technical cultures at the
MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab, Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Carnegie Mellon University, Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, and others gave the tongue-in-cheek derivation "German word meaning 'someone
who makes furniture with an axe'". This derivation was carried through when the Jargon File was
eventually published as "The Hacker's Dictionary" in 1983 and later republished as "The New Hacker's
Dictionary". However any student of German will know that the German word 'Hacker' (literal
translation: "someone who chops") has nothing to do with making furniture, and that the derivation was
intended as a wise-crack.
See: MIT hacks
Over time, the meaning of the word there was expanded, perhaps through contact with the amateur radio
community. It came to mean either a kludge, or the opposite of a kludge, as in a clever or elegant
solution to a difficult problem. In the term "hack value" it also acquired a meaning of anything that was
simultaneously fun and clever.
The initial hacker community at MIT, particularly those associated with the Tech Model Railroad Club,
applied this pre-existing local slang to computer programming, producing the variant which first came
into common use outside MIT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_(technology)

Hack (technology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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History
The term "hack" was first used by US university computing centre staff in the mid-1960s. The context
determined whether the complimentary or derogatory meanings were implied. Phrases such as "ugly
hack" or "quick hack" generally referred to the latter meaning; phrases such as "cool hack" or "neat
hack", to the former. In modern computer programming, a "hack" can refer to a solution or method
which functions correctly but which is "ugly" in its concept, which works outside the accepted structures
and norms of the environment, or which is not easily extendable or maintainable (see kludge). The
programmer keeps beating on it until a solution is found. The jargon used by hackers is called
"Hackish" (see the Jargon file). This should not be confused with "1337" or "leetspeak."
In a similar vein, a "hack" may refer to works outside of computer programming. For example, a math
hack means a clever solution to a mathematical problem. The GNU General Public License has been
described as a copyright hack because it cleverly uses the copyright laws for a purpose the lawmakers
did not foresee. All of these uses now also seem to be spreading beyond MIT as well.
On many internet websites and in everyday language the word "hack" can be slang for "copy",
"imitation" or "rip-off."
The term has since acquired an additional and now more
common meaning, since approximately the 1980s; this more
modern definition was initially associated with crackers. This
growing use of the term "hack" is to refer to a program that
(sometimes illegally) modifies another program, often a
computer game, giving the user access to features otherwise
inaccessible to them. As an example of this use, for Palm OS
users (until the 4th iteration of this operating system), a "hack"
refers to an extension of the operating system which provides
additional functionality. The general media also uses this term to
describe the act of illegally breaking into a computer, but this
meaning is disputed.

A DIY musician probes the circuit
board of a synthesizer for "bends"
using a jeweler's screwdriver and
alligator clips

The term is additionally used by electronics hobbyists to refer to
simple modifications to electronic hardware such as a graphing
calculators, video game consoles, electronic musical keyboards
or other device (see CueCat for a notorious example) to expose or add functionality to a device that was
unintended for use by end users by the company who created it. A number of techno musicians have
modified 1980s-era Casio SK-1 sampling keyboards to create unusual sounds by doing circuit bending:
connecting wires to different leads of the integrated circuit chips. The results of these DIY experiments
range from opening up previously inaccessible features that were part of the chip design to producing
the strange, dis-harmonic digital tones that became part of the techno music style. Companies take
different attitudes towards such practices, ranging from open acceptance (such as Texas Instruments for
its graphing calculators and Lego for its Lego Mindstorms robotics gear) to outright hostility (such as
Microsoft's attempts to lock out Xbox hackers or the DRM routines on Blu-ray Disc players designed to
sabotage compromised players).

See also
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Hack value
Hacker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_(technology)

Hack (technology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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HAKMEM
Haxie and Extension (Mac OS)
History of "hacker"
Kludge
MIT hack

References
1. ^ A Beautiful Mind, by Sylvia Nasar. Simon & Schuster, Touchstone Edition, published in 2001. Pages 141,
142, 156

External links
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MIT gallery of hacks
How to Become a Hacker by Eric Raymond
History of Hacking Video Series by Discovery Channel
"Bit Twiddling Hacks" By Sean Eron Anderson

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_(technology)"
Categories: Computer programming
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