[thelist] complete: hacking contest

Emma Jane Hogbin emmajane at xtrinsic.com
Wed Jul 2 22:05:30 CDT 2003


On Wed, Jul 02, 2003 at 05:07:32PM -0700, Chris W. Parker wrote:
> Ok so if these two groups are so different how is it that they somehow got confused? 

Probably the easiest way of saying it this: the media has distorted the
term. Then the dictionaries pick up popular use of the term, whether or
not it is a correct interpretation (think of other terms whose original
meaning has been altered: queer, gay). I don't think they were "somehow"
confused, I think people are sloppy with their language and the media is
especially sloppy with its language. I think that "hacker" is a sexier
term that "cracker" -- crackers are things you eat....but I still feel
it's important between the two terms.

I am a proud Hacker. I read books like The Hacker Ethic and agree that my
life fits with a large percentage of what is said. But I have never
behaved as a cracker. I have never cracked a system. I have never
maliciously deleted files from someone else's system. I have never written
a virus. What I *have* done is spent well over 60 hours writing and
researching open source documentation on how to compile a kernel so that
it supports a power management standard. And that's just what I've done in
the last few months. I also write open source software for universities.
I'd like to think I'm a Good Person.

> Reading the text you included with your email makes sense, I mean, I can see the distinction when it's explained that way and I've definitely read that sort of thing before. But still how is it that everyone (except true 1337 h4x0rz such as yourself) gets it wrong?

They probably get it wrong for the same reason that some people don't
bother to wrap text at 70-80 characters in their emails ... They 
don't care, and or the don't know that it's a problem.

emma
PS http://www.groupsense.co.nz/howtoquote.html

-- 
Emma Jane Hogbin
[[ 416 417 2868 ][ www.xtrinsic.com ]]


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