[comp.sys.mac.system] hacker vs. cracker

francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) (06/07/91)

In article <0B01FFFB.hfj14n@outpost.UUCP> peirce@outpost.UUCP (Michael Peirce) writes:

>I was using the term HACK to mean a quick and elegant little program
>that gets the job done.  This is the good connotation of this word,
>not the bad.  Sort of like describing myself as a hacker.  I don't
>mean I break into systems and steal national security secrets, but

Isn't that called a cracker now?

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peirce@outpost.UUCP (Michael Peirce) (06/08/91)

In article <FRANCIS.91Jun6141014@daisy.uchicago.edu>, francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu (Francis Stracke) writes:
> In article <0B01FFFB.hfj14n@outpost.UUCP> peirce@outpost.UUCP (Michael Peirce) writes:
> 
> >I was using the term HACK to mean a quick and elegant little program
> >that gets the job done.  This is the good connotation of this word,
> >not the bad.  Sort of like describing myself as a hacker.  I don't
> >mean I break into systems and steal national security secrets, but
> 
> Isn't that called a cracker now?

Exactly, but many people still use hacker when they should use cracker.

The mass media is especially notorious for labeling crooks as hackers.

-- michael peirce

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