bjorn@dataio.UUCP (Bjorn Benson) (08/25/85)
>Wrong. > >A TRUE hacker (not to be confused with the press' definition) is someone ... > ...[and then shows how hackers are nice people]... Wrong again. The press sets the definitions these days (not that it should, it just does.) Remember what "pot" and "stoned" mean? They mean a cooking implement and getting killed by having small hard objects thrown at you. However if I said, "my brother/sister got stoned" you think drugs, right? Point made, Bjorn Benson
peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (08/31/85)
> Wrong again. The press sets the definitions these days (not that it should, > it just does.) Remember what "pot" and "stoned" mean? They mean a > cooking implement and getting killed by having small hard objects thrown > at you. However if I said, "my brother/sister got stoned" you think > drugs, right? Because I (and probably most of us) am peripherally involved in the subculture involved. In that subculture pot means marijuana and stoned refers to intoxi- cation. There are no other meanings I know of within that subculture. Now then, what does "hacker" mean in this subculture? Depends who you talk to, right? It's not hard & fast like "stoned". Point made.
bjorn@dataio.UUCP (Bjorn Benson) (09/04/85)
In article <137@graffiti.UUCP> peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >> Wrong again. The press sets the definitions these days (not that it should, > > ...Now then, > what does "hacker" mean in this subculture? Depends who you talk to, right? > It's not hard & fast like "stoned". > > Point made. Point conceeded, but wrong point. The point is that with the mass market press using "hacker" as the definition of someone who uses his/her computer skills to break into or break down a computer, that definition is the accepted one. There are always articles about "Hackers break into DODs computer, Read top secret documents", etc. Furthermore, there are a number of books out like: "Out of the Inner Circle: Confessions of a Hacker". These definitions will override anything that we would like to use. "Stoned" and "Pot" came into their common definitions because the press picked up on them and published them widely. Yes, I agree that they were first used by a certain sub-culture, just as "hacker" is, and that perhaps in that subculture the definition is different. However in the mass market, public eye, a "hacker" is defined to be a low down criminal.
peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (09/17/85)
> There are always articles about "Hackers break into DODs computer, Read top > secret documents", etc. Furthermore, there are a number of books out like: > "Out of the Inner Circle: Confessions of a Hacker". These definitions > will override anything that we would like to use. I see, in much the same way that the British press made "yankee" a term of approbium around the time of the American Rebellion. Well, with that sort of precedent I guess we better just give up & let the high-school modem-freakers have the term.