

Journalists need to learn what a 'hacker' really is - kolemcrae
http://www.geek-juice.net/2010/12/journalists-need-to-learn-what-hacker.html

======
redthrowaway
FW:FW:FW:FW:RE:RE

In all seriousness, however, this is something the geek/hacker community has
been harping on for decades, and something that nobody else gives a rat's ass
about. The MSM will continue to call people who use LOIC or exploit password
reset features "hackers", because 99.9% of their audience won't know the
difference.

If they ask you directly, correct them. Otherwise, just let them do their
thing. There's absolutely nothing to gain by insisting that ignorant people
use the correct terminology.

~~~
fleitz
Agreed. A solution requires one of two things to happen: every hacker to start
using a new term, or every hacker to 'reclaim' the term.

Reclamation is out for two reasons, one, we have a really poor narrative, and
two, try organizing hackers.

Using a new term is out because technically we're right and in the hacker
mindset logos trumps all other forms of rhetoric, and two, try organizing
hackers.

------
jamesaguilar
Hackers need to understand that nobody cares about their attachment to this
word. The English language has moved on.

~~~
Locke1689
Maybe, but the fact that someone can be prosecuted for "hacking" by guessing
someone's password means that the misconception has real negative
consequences.

~~~
jamesaguilar
Unauthorized access to computer systems is illegal on it's own and not because
of any conflation with the word "hacker".

------
Xuzz
I feel that actual "hackers" need to realize that a new name is necessary if
they want to disassociate themselves from this depiction. It's like the "begs
the question" people (<http://begthequestion.info/>) -- it's simply unfeasible
to change such a commonly (if unintentionally) misused interpretation.

Edit: Feel free to downvote me, but please let me know why: I'm still new
here, and I was trying to be constructive.

~~~
dhbanes
I agree and I'd also like to hear some of you downvoters speaking up.

~~~
kolemcrae
It looks like someone just downvoted everybody... Some people are jerks.

------
Figs
Calling a script-kiddie who pushes the start button on a DDoS program a
"hacker" is like calling someone who turns on a toaster a "chef".

~~~
ra
And so journalists need to learn the term, "script kiddie"

------
follower
This article seems to be more concerned about "hacker" vs "script kiddie" than
"hacker" vs "cracker" which most comments here seem to be focused on.

But on that topic I'm actually less pessimistic about the use of "Hacker" than
I used to be. Self-described hackers are I think more prominent and with
movements like hackerspaces which attract crafty & creative types there's
leakage into the non-technical social groups as well.

Even a company like Facebook uses the term
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1990014> even if it leads to
misunderstanding.

------
Yaggo
I wonder if any journalist has ever wandered to HN when googling for the
"hacker" term and got confused about the startup-related discussion.

------
CallMeV
In the "I can't say what it is, but I can point to one" sense, hackers to me
are the ones who show you lines of code they've written for some app, as if to
say "This is the magic bit. Look what I've got this language to do!"

They're the bright-eyed people who show you how they managed to make a program
do something that nobody else with access to the same program can do. They
come from the same school as people who build Antikythera Mechanism emulators
and Babbage Difference Engines out of Lego.

That's a hacker, to me: someone who can make something do cool things. If it
makes them money as well, that's just the icing on a very big cake.

------
junklight
The word hacker _does_ mean "people who break into computers" because that is
what the vast majority of the people who use the word mean when they say it.

It has _two_ archaic uses - the older one is well known to this community and
the second one, also falling by the way side, is someone who has a good
understanding of computer security and uses it to break into computers.

This boat has sailed. And what is more it sailed a long time ago.

------
Mithrandir
I get so sick and tired of people assuming that hacker == cracker or script
kiddie.

But I don't see much of a solution, except saying "good hacker" and "bad
hacker". Non-hackers just don't get it.

------
getsat
[http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=65&id=2](http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=65&id=2)

Ctrl-F: "Hacking boxes"

~~~
kolemcrae
That was an interesting read...

------
babeKnuth
ironically, there are also plenty of people on HN that also need to learn what
a "hacker" is

~~~
updog
This. I think most people "get it" by now, but I roll my eyes every time
someone tries to say that those who exploit software or break into computers
are "crackers". No, they aren't.

~~~
babeKnuth
yes. seems like everyone is co-opting the definition based on what they WANT
it to mean, and thus being intolerant of the fact that everyone has their own
pre/mis-conceived notion of "hacker". hence, knots in the panties from the
"that's not a knife; this is a knife" crowd.

(apologies for my poor aussie accent)

