samurai

A hacker who hires out for legal cracking jobs, snooping for

factions in corporate political fights, lawyers pursuing

privacy-rights and First Amendment cases, and other parties

with legitimate reasons to need an electronic locksmith. In

1991, mainstream media reported the existence of a loose-knit

culture of samurai that meets electronically on BBS systems,

mostly bright teenagers with personal micros; they have

modelled themselves explicitly on the historical samurai of

Japan and on the "net cowboys" of William Gibson's cyberpunk

novels. Those interviewed claim to adhere to a rigid ethic of

loyalty to their employers and to disdain the vandalism and

theft practiced by criminal crackers as beneath them and

contrary to the hacker ethic; some quote Miyamoto Musashi's

"Book of Five Rings", a classic of historical samurai

doctrine, in support of these principles.

See also Stupids, social engineering, cracker, hackerethic, and dark-side hacker.

[Jargon File]