The evolution of the word hacker

[Heike]

黑客 or 红客?

The organization of Chinese hackers is often referred to as the Honker Union of China by most open-source reporting to include the Chinese themselves. This report will instead refer to the organization as the "Red Hacker Alliance" as it is in the author's opinion, truer to the original Chinese. Hopefully, this will not cause confusion for those readers who are familiar with the subject matter and accustomed to seeing the organization referred to as the Honker Union of China. There are three main reasons for this shift away from the term Honker:

1) The term Honker has little or no meaning in the English language. It can refer to a person who honks a horn; a slang term for the nose; or a goose. None of these definitions apply. Furthermore, it fails to provide the average Western reader with the undertones contained in the Chinese characters.

2) The Chinese use a combination of two characters to form a transliteration of the English word hacker. The first is 黑 (pronounced the same as the English word hay) and the second is 客 (pronounced the same as the hard C sound in could). The character 黑 means "dark" or "black" and the character 客 means "visitor" or "guest". So in Chinese, hacker is represented as 黑客, or the "dark visitor." There is a Romanization system developed to assist non-native speakers learn Chinese, called Pinyin, that assists in forming the sounds for these characters. In Pinyin, 黑客 is written as Heike. Chinese hackers later decided to change the 黑 to 红, which means "red" and is written in Pinyin as Hong. Thus, the group's name became 红客 (Hongke). The term Honker is probably derived from a contraction (removing the g) of the Pinyin Hongke to Honker (adding the r). The use of the Pinyin in this instance does not convey the true meaning of the characters. Substituting the color Red for Honker in the title also gives it a more patriotic feel to the translation that is much closer to the meaning and expresses the ideology of the alliance.

3) Adding more confusion to the term Honker is the way in which it has been applied over time. Initially, it seems to have been used to describe all the associated groups and individuals making up the alliance and may have actually been an umbrella moniker for this loose association. As the nature of the group took on greater form and substance, it became tied to one set in the group more than the others. To suggest that there is only one group is inaccurate. It is certainly an alliance, but it is an alliance of independent groups and not subject to the dictates of an individual leader or organization. Think of it as the evolution of a rock band. We will call it the "John Smith" Band. In the beginning the name covers all members and is simply billed as the John Smith Band. However, as time goes on and the lead singer, who we will call Tony (Honker Union of China), moves into the spotlight and gets greater press coverage, the band is now billed as "Tony and the John Smith Band." More time elapses, Tony's popularity increases and now the entire group headlines as "Tony." This is what appears to have happened with the Red Hacker Alliance.

NOTE: On this web site, when you see the term Honker Union of China it refers to only the one web site and its associated members, not the larger organization. When referring to the collection of all web sites the term Red Hacker Alliance will be used. When asked to give a distinction between regular hackers and Red Hackers, the "Godfather" (Wan Tao, discussed later) of Chinese hacking gave the following explanation:

"Years ago, it was OK to be a hacker, when it simply referred to someone who would break into systems. But over the past decade, the attributes of hackers have become somewhat darker. Chinese hackers coined the word "Red Hacker", which means someone's a patriotic hacker. Unlike our Western counterparts, most of who are individualists or anarchists, Chinese hackers tend to get more involved with politics because most of them are young, passionate and patriotic. Most of them are politically motivated, as they need a way to protest against foreign matters. There's a lack of such an outlet in real Chinese society."

[gato]

The term "hacker" originally referred to someone who likes to figure out how systems worked. In the mass media, however, it became more and more used to refer to someone who does this for a bad purpose. Good hackers like such bad hackers to be called "crackers" instead of "hackers."

http://searchwindowssecurity.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid45_gci998037,00.html

The difference between hackers and crackers

In English, it's possible for the words "hack" and "hacker" to bear positive or neutral meanings. But translating "hacker" into 黑客 gets at only the negative meaning and not the original meaning of "tinkering with machines." Maybe that's why the Chinese hacker group started calling themselves 红客 instead.

[shanghaikai]

Interesting first post there...can't wait to see the final draft. (actually, it looks like it was lifted from an original source somewhere)

[muyongshi]

I also find it funny that the user name is heike....maybe didn't want us to get the wrong idea about him

In law in Taiwan (and I believe mainland too) the word 黑客 is used for "crackers" as referring to the illegal entrance/manipulation of computers/or anything related to computers.

[imron]

I think there can be little argument though that the Chinese 黑客 is derived from the English "hacker" instead of "cracker", and represents the general misunderstanding of this word by non-technical people. I would guess that most native English speakers aren't aware, and probably don't even care, about the distinction between hacker and cracker.

[Han-tiger]

As a Chinese, I’d like to share my thought with you on this topic, though I am not sure if it can make some sense. Below are my points:

A. As we know, there are some English words that can’t be translated into Chinese, because in Chinese language there are no such concepts which are equivalent to the English words, and vice versa (some pinyins are incorporated into English vocabulary). In such cases, we Chinese just create a new phrase that has a similar pronunciation to the opposite English word.

e.g. tank: 坦克; sofa: 沙发; salon: 沙龙; salad: 沙拉……

B. I surmise that “hacker-黑客” is the similar case as mentioned above. But unlike “tank-坦克”, “sofa-沙发” or “salon-沙龙”, “黑客” is not only the phonetic translation of “hacker”, but also a meaningful phrase in Chinese language. “黑客” , in Chinese, means dark visitor (to another's electronic system). “黑” is one of the most negative characters in Chinese, while “红” is one of the most positive ones. Hence, I can further surmise that Chinese hackers feel so much guilty of being referred to as “黑客”. I can say they dislike “黑客” in the same degree as African-American dislike “Black”.

Therefore, it is very likely the case that Chinese hackers have a strong desire of giving some modification to “黑客” so as to make it sound better. But please note I can be sure that they do not intend to make any change on the English word -” hacker”. In their dictionary, ” hacker” is ” hacker”, nothing more, but “黑客”, the Chinese native expression, does make them feel kinds of offensive. They have tried replacing “黑” with “红”. “红客” sounds really beautiful. But they failed!

C. I can assert that neither “红客” nor “Honker” can be understood by westerners in such situation. I can be sure they will be shocked when knowing that “红客” or “Honker” refers to “one who illegally gains access to or enters another's electronic system to obtain secret information or steal money.” It is obvious that Chinese hackers have made a mistake, a logical mistake.

In my eyes, the relation between ” hacker” and “黑客” is just like that between ” father” and “son”. To replace “黑客” with “红客” is something like a “son” challenges his ” father”. So I think that “Hongke” or “Honker” is groundless and thus unacceptable.

However, if “红客” is short for “红色的黑客” (“red hacker”), that can make sense.

D. I don’t agree with your remark that “Chinese hackers tend to get more involved with politics because most of them are young, passionate and patriotic. Most of them are politically motivated, as they need a way to protest against foreign matters. There's a lack of such an outlet in real Chinese society." As stated at the end of your post. I have read lots of stories in realities that can serve as a rebutter.

[gato]

Steven Levy's book on hackers (mostly at MIT), published back in 1984, is probably the best book about what it means to be a hacker. I read it when I was in junior high school, and it transfixed me for a quite while.

http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Steven-Levy/dp/0141000511

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy

[muyongshi]

I think there can be little argument though that the Chinese 黑客 is derived from the English "hacker" instead of "cracker", and represents the general misunderstanding of this word by non-technical people. I would guess that most native English speakers aren't aware, and probably don't even care, about the distinction between hacker and cracker.

I agree with you that it was derived from the English "hacker" I just choose to use "cracker" in my example so as to distinguish the legal side of what a cracker/hacker is, since it had been pointed out that their was a difference. I am one of the (few) who is aware and do to an extent care about the difference.

[roddy]

The word honker was never going to catch on anyway, for the very simple reason that no company or Pentagon spokesperson is ever in a million years going to stand up in front of a press conference and say "We've been honked." I'm glad that your report and website have realized this objective fact.

[zhwj]

I don't see anything wrong with ambiguity in the term 黑客 - it's actually rather nice that it matches the range of meanings that the English term has. Its only problem, really, is possible confusion with the English term 'black hat'. But swapping the color red in for black wouldn't really do much more than conjure up images of armies of Commie hackers out to break into the computer systems of the free world.

For 'cracker', I've always seen 骇客 used.

[imron]

Speaking about the definition of hacker, I've always like the jargon file's definition.

[roddy]

Myriam, please think first and post later. Don't make posts you know are off-topic, don't delete posts and move them around, and don't post stuff you're going to feel bad about later. Please. Thank you.

[Heike]

Here is a little additional detail in my study on the evolution of the term

Adding more confusion to the term Honker is the way in which it has been applied over time. Initially, it seems to have been used to describe all the associated groups and individuals making up the alliance and may have actually been an umbrella moniker for this loose association. As the nature of the group took on greater form and substance, it became tied to one set in the group more than the others. To suggest that there is only one group is inaccurate. It is certainly an alliance, but it is an alliance of independent groups and not subject to the dictates of an individual leader or organization. Think of it as the evolution of a rock band. We will call it the “John Smith” Band. In the beginning the name covers all members and is simply billed as the John Smith Band. However, as time goes on and the lead singer, who we will call Tony (Honker Union of China), moves into the spotlight and gets greater press coverage, the band is now billed as “Tony and the John Smith Band.” More time elapses, Tony’s popularity increases and now the entire group headlines as “Tony.” This is what appears to have happened with the Red Hacker Alliance.

When asked to give a distinction between regular hackers and Red Hackers, the “Godfather” of Chinese hacking (Wan Tao) gave the following explanation:

“Years ago, it was OK to be a hacker, when it simply referred to someone who would break into systems. But over the past decade, the attributes of hackers have become somewhat darker. Chinese hackers coined the word "Red Hacker", which means someone's a patriotic hacker. Unlike our Western counterparts, most of who are individualists or anarchists, Chinese hackers tend to get more involved with politics because most of them are young, passionate and patriotic. Most of them are politically motivated, as they need a way to protest against foreign matters. There's a lack of such an outlet in real Chinese society.”

[Heike]

Shanghaikai,

Yes, this is from a book I wrote on Chinese hackers. I wanted to get some feedback on my analysis of the word and its evolution. All of the comments have been very helpful. Thanks!

[roddy]

Your additional detail looks oddly like the last half of your first post.

[Han-tiger]

I think there is an evolution of the Chinese translation of the word hacker, rather than that of the word hacker.

A. hacker is “father”, while 黑客 is “son”.

B. 黑客 (“grandfather”)---红客 Hongke (“father”)--- Honker (“son”)

C. Honker challenges hacker.

[Heike]

Roddy, sorry I am an idiot. Someone had asked about further evidence on the patriotic nature of the group and I had intended to post these comments by Sharp Winner, Chu Tianbi (members of the RHA) and the denial of the Nanjing Massacre. Of course I just copied out the same passage again...sigh!

Sharp Winner’s comments related to the ethnic riots in Jakarta, Indonesia and the cyber conflict with Indonesia:

“A group of patriotic youth active on the net engaged in attacks on Indonesian government web sites, under the alias ‘China Redhackers.’ This patriotic action received a great deal of reporting and praise in the domestic and overseas media. The name China Redhackers began here.”

Chu Tianbi’s historical account claims that it was after the 1999 US bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia that created the alliance and when their first web site appeared:

“The second day after the bombing of the Chinese embassy, the first Chinese Red Hacker web site appeared, and a new type of hacker was born – the Red Hacker.”

While there is room for argument about the conceptualized birth date of the Red Hacker Alliance, Sharp Winner and Chu Tianbi are in agreement that it predates Lion’s founding of the Honker Union of China in 2000. Studying Chu Tianbi’s words carefully also reveals that the alliance is not made up of one entity/web site, he clearly tells us that this was when “the first Chinese Red Hacker web site appeared,” not the only, just the first.

(While Chu does not declare them patriotic, I think the fact they formed to defend China is and example of their nature.

Also this:

The Japanese Denial of the Nanjing Massacre

(Cyber Conflict of 2000)

The year 2000 would bring both highs and lows for the Red Hacker Alliance. From late January to mid-February, a group calling themselves the “Ultra Right-Wing Chinese Hackers Opposed to Japan Alliance” claimed to have attacked some 30 Japanese web sites “belonging to the ministries, the prime minister, parliament, and the state planning agency.” This was in retaliation for what the hackers perceived as a denial of the Nanjing Massacre following the loss of a Japanese court case by Azuma Shiro. Azuma Shiro was a Japanese soldier who maintained a diary during WWII that recounted Japanese atrocities in Nanjing. The diary was published and his former superior immediately sued Shiro for libel. Shiro lost the case and subsequent appeals in 1998 and 2000. Their web site, located at (this site no longer exists) Http://www.bsptt.gx.cn/public/badboy/hack/, posted an open letter to the Japanese government that stated:

“Let it be known that the objective of this alliance is to carry out savage attacks on the small number of Japanese mad-dogs on the net. The alliance is comprised completely of fervent patriotic Chinese net-worms.”

Almost the entire history of the Red Hacker Alliance is filled with these types of comments on their patriotic nature. That is why I feel that "Honker" was meant to convey nationalism as much as anything.

[shibole]

I was going through my photo collection and came across this, and immediately thought of this thread. I hope people find it interesting.

[imron]

A group of patriotic youth active on the net engaged in attacks on Indonesian government web sites, under the alias ‘China Redhackers.’

So actually, going by the correct definition of the word hacker, a better name for this would be Red Crackers, because hackers don't engage in malicious activity.

[heifeng]

Ok, i dunno about other places but the term red cracker would immediately make me think of something else, but then again I think I have an over active imagination...

'red cracker' = redneck