Re: PEDANTRY: Hackers/Crackers

KPJ (kpj@sics.se)
Thu, 01 Jul 1999 11:57:23 +0200

It appears as if the sentience Eliezer pointed out:
|
|I beg your pardon. "Hacker" is an ancient and honorable term referring
|to computer programmers supreme in their art. The vast majority of the
|losers altering people's Web pages are "kiddie crackers" armed with
|shell scripts.
|
|Of course, I will admit that some crackers are hackers as well... the
|very, very few creative and intelligent people who, for some reason or
|other, focus their talents on finding wholly new ways to illegally break
|into systems. (One way to tell who these people are: They know how to
|spell. No real hacker, cracker or not, is going to be anything less
|than a fanatic precisionist.)

RFC 1983, ``Internet Users' Glossary'' provides information on this:

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

cracker

      A cracker is an individual who attempts to access computer systems
      without authorization.  These individuals are often malicious, as
      opposed to hackers, and have many means at their disposal for
      breaking into a system.  See also: hacker, Computer Emergency
      Response Team, Trojan Horse, virus, worm.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ [p.12]

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

hacker

      A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the
      internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in
      particular.  The term is often misused in a pejorative context,
      where "cracker" would be the correct term.  See also: cracker.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ [p.22]

It appears as if O'Regan, Emlyn <Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au> wrote:
|
|These are the people I mean, although I wonder if they are merely hype
|sometimes.
|
|Although the kiddie-crackers might do some funny things - imagine an
|uploaded Larry Ellison or Bill Gates making an address to his legions of
|fanatic followers, and finding that all he could utter was "Phurry Phunky
|Phreakers Cracked Me, I am a big losser, U are all krap".

I am sure you see the great fun when somebody injects some nice chemical into your blood system, and the only things you can utter "I am a big loser" thereafter. Or you may not, as it may be.