It's probable that I was a hacker before you knew what one was. I hacked my first program in 1977, because having bought a cassette tape, I refused toa ccept their requirement that when the tape wore out, I would be required to buy the program again.

Meanwhile, what are currently called hackers need a crowd to hide in and apologists raising a smokescreen they can hide behind. If you want to risk being someone's bunk buddy in the federal pokey, knock yourself out. If you raise the bar high enough, wanna bees will melt away giving the criminals less cover to hide behind. Suit yourself, but don't expect any sympathy if you make a poor choice.