In 80s California, the word hacker was very often "solving problems that are technically hard, doing it fast or otherwise in an exceptional way, and no concerns about legality" .. please recall that obvious crime like thieving, is only one end of lots of other possibilities, such as disregarding egregious and/or exaggerated legal claims by profit-oriented entities, copy protection, right to alter a consumer product, right to discuss publicly, etc
Yes, I very much agree with your assessment of the word Hacker in that place, around that time, I was there from '64-'92.
Previous to the negative connotations of the now common usage regarding Hacking computers, I took my first High School electronics class in 1969 in Sunnyvale, the word Hacker was already in use then.
Upon reflection though, it may be the word was used in the Ham Radio Community first, because my instructor, Robert Thorson, was also a Ham Radio Operator, and quite a cool cat.
As an arcane aside, my great Uncle, who like many of his generation (B. 1895), was a Maker, and built things in his home workshop (yes, he had a ubiquitous Shop Smith Multi-Tool and unlike most, he used the crap out of it).
When I was a child, about 1959 or '60, I asked him where he got a pull toy that he let me play with, and he told me it was "just something I hacked together out of scrap".
So he then had to explain to me what that meant, and he said it had to do with making things out of other things, and it often involved a hacksaw.
I was so excited about learning that word (hacksaws are cool to 6 years olds!) that I ran inside my Aunts house and told my parents.
It influenced me for life, and I've been hacking things together for decades now, just not computer code.
I was saddened that the "popular press" poisoned the word, it was very descriptive for what it was.
