Peter Leftwich <HostmasterVideo2Video.Com> types:
> Humour below:

[3K of unneeded headers deleted here. Please trim your followups of such.]

> > Miguel Mendez wrote:
> > > On Tue, Mar 05, 2002 at 12:46:25PM +0100, Cliff Sarginson wrote:

> > A hacker looks, but does not touch; hacking is a result of a curious nature.
> Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. The nature of the act of observation
> alters what it is you are observing, thus curiosity can crash a system
> and/or land your butt in jail near Big Joe's...

Right. Tresspassing is a crime, even if you don't touch anything. Just
because you're tresspassing in cyberspace doen't make it any less of a
crime.

> A cracker cracks a safe. A cracker is a "whitey," a "honky" such as
> myself.

Or white trash. You know, I'd forgotten that usage of the term. Thanks
for reminding me of it.

> This term has never been offensive to me so get over it *grins*. A
> locksmith is a good cracker, good meaning benevolent. A hacker can be good
> or bad; a hacker who is "a HACK" is an over-paid under-skilled
> coder/programmer. A hacker who hacks code and is very skilled at it is
> someone who takes issue and bitches and moans when the media uses the word
> "hacker" in the "wrong way." They want the word back, but it is damaged
> goods.

Unfortunately correct. That doesn't make the old meaning obsolete,
though. So I'll keep right on using it with pride, and correcting
people who think it only has one meaning, by giving them the second
meaning of cracker. After all, if the media can hijack our word, we
can hijack one.

> This seems to all come down to two ideas: [1] People want "intent" or
> "motive" to be part of the noun, just as we have two different words for
> those who steal your money: taxman and thief. [2] The Eskimo-like tribe
> Ki'illi-Mo%tocka Timbe of the Russian Siberian plains have 13 words for
> "dayummn it is phreakin' cold out today!"

I don't think hackers - in the original sense - wnat "intent" or
"motive" to be part of the noun. They realize that some crackers are
also very skilled hackers. What I - and I assume they - want is for
the media to recognize that not all hackers are crackers, and to
convey that message to the public in some way.

> > Ken Thompson is a hacker. Dennis Ritchie is a hacker. Kirk McKusick is a hacker.
> I'm glad you didn't mention Kevin Mitnick. So I will: Kevin Mitnick is a god.

Loki?

> > -- Terry
>
> I'm done. Sorry about the chubby headers; one day I will shift back to
> saving originals and sent-mail and not just sent-mail ;-\

Ugh. I'd still like to see them trimmed.

        <mike

--
Mike Meyer <mwmmired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.
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