I don't know how many of you'll saw the article titled `The Hack-Shack' in
today's Channel Y. It totally misuses the term hacker. I have written an
email to the paper regarding the same. Following is a copy of the same.
Readers of the jargon file will notice some similarities to RMS' letter to
the Wall Street Journal.
Philip
------------------------------------
This is with regard to the article `The Hack-Shack' by Hardik Thakkar in
Channel Y Dated May 4 2000. Your article it seems confuses the term
hacker with what we hackers call crackers.
I am a hacker. That is to say, I enjoy playing with computers --
working with, learning about, and writing clever computer programs. I am
not a cracker; I don't make a practice of breaking computer security.
There's nothing shameful about the hacking I do. But when I tell people I
am a hacker, people think I'm admitting something naughty -- because
newspapers such as yours misuse the word "hacker", giving the impression
that it means "security breaker" and nothing else. You are giving hackers
a bad name.
I do not know if you are aware of the distinction between hackers and
crackers, but if you don't, the basic difference is this:
hackers build things, crackers break them.
>From the jargon file, the definitions:
hacker: (sense 2) One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively)
or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about
programming.
cracker: One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers
in defense against journalistic misuse of hacker.
If you want to know what a real hacker is, I suggest you have a look at
Eric Raymond's `How to become a Hacker' at:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html
Also, read through the jargon file for some of the best hacks of all time.
If I were what you call a "hacker", at this point I would threaten to
crack your computer and crash it. But I am a hacker, not a cracker. I
don't do that kind of thing I have enough computers to play with at home
and at work; I don't need yours. Besides, it's not my way to respond to
insults with violence. My response is this letter.
You owe hackers an apology; but more than that, you owe us ordinary
respect.
I hope that this mail will bring to light the true nature of hackers, and
I hope that it will influence you to stop the misuse of the word.
Thank you,
Philip S Tellis
--
Our missions are peaceful -- not for conquest. When we do battle, it
is only because we have no choice.
-- Kirk, "The Squire of Gothos", stardate 2124.5
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