en. The hacker community of the early decades of the Internet (late 60s to mid 90s) was a positive and creative force, characterized by its spirit of collaboration, its desire to share knowledge and its curiosity to improve the world through technology. Far from being a threat, this community helped build the foundations of many of the technologies and principles that are essential in the digital world today. The concept of hacker ethics was a cornerstone of this community. It was based on principles such as: free access to information (open and decentralized Internet); distrust of authority (meritocracy and self-taught learning); creativity and innovation (modifying, improving and rethinking existing technologies); sharing knowledge (exchange of code and progress). The hacker community was key in the development of the 'free software' and 'open source' movement. From this spirit emerged projects such as the Linux operating system, developed by Linus Torvalds, or the work of Richard Stallman in the creation of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation.
