#27 Hackers - Not the movie. The misunderstood minds who drive modern technology.

The popular conception of hackers is that they're pasty malcontents who use their arcane skills to launch nuclear missiles, shut down the national power grid or crash every PC in the world with lethal virii. The pasty part may be right, but the truth is that hackers are the reason why the internet is a part of our lives today. It was their incessant tinkering with the nuts and bolts of software and hardware that made the web so vital.

In the '70s, when computers were far from ubiquitous, it was phreakers who fooled around with Ma Bell. It was in these early days that the line between the free-thinking, communal-types and those who sought to control information was drawn. Bill Gates sent an open letter to computer hobbyists, a group led by Apple founder Steve Wozniak, decrying their sharing of DOS. Today, this and countless similar fights continue. Every day decisions are made by businesses and governments to limit our access to information. The fight to keep the net free is lead by hacker upstarts such as 2600 and the Electronic Freedom Foundation. Learn about the struggle before it's to late too decide whether you believe in it.