It really pisses me off that when I discuss with friends or colleagues and mention that I consider myself a happy hacker, then all of a sudden I’m some kind of wannabe corporate criminal mastermind. They seem to equate “hacker” with “cracker”. Just because of some over hyped stories, hackers have to endure snide remarks and are stereo-typed as crackers.
To quote the seminal teachings of How To Become A Hacker by Eric Steven Raymond:
These are people (mainly adolescent males) who get a kick out of breaking into computers and phreaking the phone system. Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them. Real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible, and not very bright, and object that being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker any more than being able to hotwire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end.
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