The Chronicle of Anthony K. Valley

The Glider: Proposal for an Appropriate Hacker Emblem

Do you hack? No, not that illegal stuff, but are you an able, useful contributor to the good of all?

Maybe you too should consider the Glider , a seemingly relatively new badge of honor for those who are proficient in the art of hacking.

Huh? You say. Read this from the source , please:

What will I be saying if I display it?
When you put the glider emblem on your web page, or wear it on clothing, or display it in some other way, you are visibly associating yourself with the hacker culture. This is not quite the same thing as claiming to be a hacker yourself — that is a title of honor that generally has to be conferred by others rather than self-assumed. But by using this emblem, you express sympathy with hackers’ goals, hackers’ values, and the hacker way of living. See the FAQs page for further discussion.

Yes, as of a mere four days after this proposal was floated, there are mugs and T-shirts .. Please note that I had nothing to do with this and I’m not getting a cut; in fact, proceeds are going to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Now there’s a second source with different designs.

Who should not use this emblem?
If you break into other peoples’ computers, those of us the emblem was invented for do not want you displaying it. Go invent your own emblem. We’ll find some way to shame and reject you publicly if you mess with ours.

I used to have a prohibition against commercial use here. A number of people have argued convincingly that this is impractical and perhaps unfair. Keep it tasteful, or you will be flamed.

How can I use it?
The glider is not copyrighted or trademarked. The recommended way to use it is on a web page, with an image and a link back to either this page or direct to How To Become A Hacker . Here is a snippet of XHTML you can paste into a page.

<a href='http://www.catb.org/hacker-emblem/'>
<img src='http://www.catb.org/hacker-emblem/glider.png' alt='hacker emblem' /></a>

Here is how it looks:

Don’t forget to read the FAQs .

Posted by akvalley at January 5, 2004 12:45 AM | TrackBack