[alt.hackers] NOT alt.{crackers,phreaks,etc}

cygnus@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Marc Cygnus) (01/12/90)

In article <7384@shlump.nac.dec.com> burch@quik07.enet.dec.com (Ben Burch) writes:
>In article <1146@crash.cts.com>, guhsd000@crash.cts.com (Paula Ferris) writes:
>>
>> <itemization of various systems broken in to deleted>
>
>WELL!
>
>I think here we have the beginnings of a war over the definition of the term
>hacker!
>
>I think that a "hacker" is one who programs computer systems for the
>love of the task, e.g., a computer artist.
>
>This writer thinks that a hacker is one who commits wire fraud, ...
>
>I am PROUD to be a hacker in the sense I described above.  ...
> <etc. deleted>

this is NOT alt.lets-break-into-systems-and-call-ourselves-hackers (and 
although i am not the originator of this group i believe that i am justified
in offering a blanket statement as such) this is alt.hackers... i don't think
there's any reason for a definition war. i agree wholly with Ben.

come off it, people. breaking into systems is _no big accomplishment_. so
what, you got into pizza hut's computer. order yourself a dozen pepperoni
pizzas with extra cheese and go home. breakins like this are not wonderful
brilliant moves requiring extraordinary intellectual powers. there's no
_point_ in them. anyone with HALF A BRAIN, a terminal, and a modem can
`break in' _somewhere_ (so you take advantage of naive users with lame 
passwords... hooooo BOY big accomplishment there!).

get a CLUE paula. have you never really hacked code for the sheer enjoyment
of it? ...or hardware? (nowhere says hacking exclusively refers to _code_
after all!) ...or _light_? (hey, some of us are into lasers, too!)

					-marcus-

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Opinions expressed above are not necessarily those of anyone in particular."
      `...but do YOU own a   |   ARPA: cygnus@vax1.acs.udel.edu
       homemade 6ft Tesla?'  |   UUCP: {yourpick}!cfg!udel!udccvax1!cygnus

warren@samsung.COM (Warren Lavallee) (01/12/90)

cygnus@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Marc Cygnus) writes:
>this is NOT alt.lets-break-into-systems-and-call-ourselves-hackers (and 
>although i am not the originator of this group i believe that i am justified
>in offering a blanket statement as such) this is alt.hackers... i don't think
>there's any reason for a definition war. i agree wholly with Ben.

	I believe back when I was a member of the above category we called
ourselves "crackers" and "phreaks", depending on whether we were computer
or phone oriented.

	Hacking (IMO) is getting the job done, but doing it in a very cryptic
manner that only another hacker could understand.  Doing it in a way so that
it should not work, but it does-- for the wrong reason.

	I got most of my ideas from the "Glossary of Computer Jargon..."
[Which all you people can anon ftp from schizo.samsung.com in ~ftp/pub/text,
if you want...]

-- 
Warren J. Lavallee, Samsung Software America.     
UUCP: ..!uunet!samsung!warren 			Internet: warren@samsung.com
"Punishment becomes ineffective after a certain point-- Men become insensitive."
                                  -- Eneg, "Patterns of Force," stardate 2534.7.