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List:       isn
Subject:    Re: [ISN] The Bad Guys Are Crackers
From:       cult hero <jericho () dimensional ! com>
Date:       1999-04-30 22:52:23
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Reply From: edison <edison@dhp.com>

I'd have to disagree with Mr. Gomes' description.

I would agree that a hacker is someone that has inate technical curiosity,
but that isn't the definition of the name.  One has to realize that how
the name is used largely defines what it means.  Ham radio experts, who
tinker with their rigs daily don't call themselves hackers, nor does
anyone else that I know of.  Gear-heads that spend more time under the
hood of their car than with their family don't call themselves hackers
either.  While these types of folks may "hack"  their radios or cars, they
aren't hackers. 

Back in the early '80's, a hacker was someone who focused his inate
technical curiosity into circumventing security measures (if any) on
computers. 

During the same era, "crackers" were those who focused their attention on
circumventing the copy protection on software programs. Most of these were
on the Apple ][, Commodore 64 and maybe an Atari here or there.  There are
guys today who still do the same thing, and they call themselves crackers,
too. 

Concurrent, and previous to this time, the guys that hacked the phone
system were called "phone phreaks."  Not hackers. 

Nowadays, the hackers and crackers are still around, but there's a
movement to portray those who do bad things with their hacking skills
crackers.  They don't crack copy protection, they're just bad hackers. 
Most of the guys in the model railroad club at MIT would be called
crackers today, but they were the ones who practically invented the name. 
Go read Steven Levy's book. 

I am a phone phreak, a hacker and a cracker.  My technical curiosity is
what drove me to become these, but does not define the names. 

-edison

On Wed, 28 Apr 1999, cult hero wrote:

> http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/Geek/geek41.html
> 
> The Bad Guys Are Crackers 
> In Defense of Hackers 

-o-
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