Though I greatly admire Stallman, this essay is a bit simplistic and disappointing. I would argue that hacking precedes the age of the computer. Those pranks mentioned by Stallman were happening at MIT in the 1920s and 1930s already. In fact, at MIT "pranks" are known as "hacks".

Well, if a "hacker" is defined as someone who attacks difficult problems for the sake of satisfying his / her intellectual curiosity, then I would argue that there were hackers in Ancient Greece already. Moreover, in Italy there were hackers galore during the Renaissance. Though the term "hacker" was created at MIT, hackers have existed for a long time. Leonardo da Vinci was a hacker extraordinaire, for instance. Let us show some respect for the giants on whose shoulders we stand...