"The word "hacker" in its well-known computing sense has a first citation of 1971 (contributed by me) in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang. Here is an earlier citation, not precisely in a computing context
but obviously the same term"
I interpret that as the only condition on the citation being "the well-known computing sense." He's definitely not saying "with negative connotations."
Even the phreaking stuff from the Tech is "not precisely in a computing context". I don't think the TMRC citation qualifies here, it's a very specific and different context (check some of its sibling entries), even if it shares some of that early magical MIT spirit.
But even then, the TMRC does also say:
"HACK: 1) something done without constructive end"
So, all in all, even taking the TMRC into account I think the origin of the word was already ambiguous, which it is. I think the small dash of mischievousness adds to the flavor of hacking.
"The word "hacker" in its well-known computing sense has a first citation of 1971 (contributed by me) in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang. Here is an earlier citation, not precisely in a computing context but obviously the same term"
I interpret that as the only condition on the citation being "the well-known computing sense." He's definitely not saying "with negative connotations."
Even the phreaking stuff from the Tech is "not precisely in a computing context". I don't think the TMRC citation qualifies here, it's a very specific and different context (check some of its sibling entries), even if it shares some of that early magical MIT spirit.
But even then, the TMRC does also say:
"HACK: 1) something done without constructive end"
So, all in all, even taking the TMRC into account I think the origin of the word was already ambiguous, which it is. I think the small dash of mischievousness adds to the flavor of hacking.