How Crackers View Themselves 310
prostoalex writes "Dr. Orly Turgeman Goldschmidt from Hebrew University of Jerusalem conducted a research to figure out if there any any differences between the classic computer vandal stereotypes and the real life. After surveying 54 Israeli repondents and using the term hacker gratuitously, Goldshmidt found out many computer vandals to be "young, well-educated men without a
criminal record, who belong to the middle or
upper class." 3 out of 54 respondents were women, some of the respondents were married and had children. Goldschmidt's survey seemed to include somewhat low-life representatives of computer security community, the type who goes on shopping sprees on stolen credit cards, so take the findings with a grain of salt."
Israel bad place for sample (Score:5, Informative)
(it's a shame this story got rejected by
Brazil leads major hacker attacks (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Brazil leads major hacker attacks (Score:2, Informative)
dude, here's a clue-by-four [securesynergy.com]. Take said clue-by-four and whack into head as hard as possible until cluefullness achieved. yeesh.
Re:Brazil leads major hacker attacks (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Israel bad place for sample (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Israel bad place for sample (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Israel bad place for sample (Score:3, Interesting)
Israel is quite clearly different, but that does not mean that it is not worth looking at. Quite the reverse.
I doubt that Israel leads the world in number of attacks, but it is certainly leading in a particular type of attack - infrastructure warfare.
There has been an ongoing fight between Israelis and Palest
Webcams (Score:4, Funny)
I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering a good 90+ percent of the world uses the term hacker to describe breaking into computer systems and what not what's the point in trying to change or clarify it?
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:5, Funny)
Something like a combination cracker/pretzel/pizza flavor, heavily fortified with caffeine and vitamins so you don't have to leave your workstation for days at a time!
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2, Insightful)
Heh (Score:4, Informative)
Cracker always meant breaking copy protection.
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:4, Interesting)
For that matter, cracked software was called cracks, not warez, and network hacking usually involved malicious intent and was done by modem. Heck, I even remember war-dialing hundreds of numbers just to find BBS connections to hack... ah, the joys of being a 14 year old hacker - er, cracker - whatever. Somewhere in the 90s, the 'white hat' hackers (coders/do-good network hackers) noticed this and the negative connotations the word 'hacker' and started to call the bad hackers crackers - right about the time cracks became warez.
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:5, Informative)
In this case the article doesn't even make a distinction between good hackers and bad hackers. It assumes that, by definition, "hacker" means someone who carries out illegal acts.
In the case of Yaron, 39, a former hacker who now owns an information security company...
Whoever wrote this article does equate "hacker" with criminal. Why else label someone who sets up an information security company as a "former hacker"?
The researcher obviously isn't much better. The paper the reporter has used for this piece comes from the "Understanding and Controlling Cybercrime in the 21st Century" session given to/at the American Society of Criminology. Other papers include "Exploring Criminal Traits of Online Offenders [asc41.com]", and ""Hardening the Target" in Cyberspace: Assessing Technology, Methods, and Information for Committing and Combating Cyber Crime [asc41.com]".
From the latter...
"The presence of new computer technology aids cybercriminals from hackers to cyberterrorists, offenders who, to a great degree, depend upon the lack of technological skills of law enforcement
From this I conclude that all the attendees, including the reporter, left that little session assuming "to hack" meant "to commit an illegal act with a computer". Is that really the idea you want the police to have when, if casually asked, your brother/sister/parents might respond that you "work with computers and are a bit of a hacker"?
I hope not!
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:5, Insightful)
And there are many. Besides the obvious abuse of the term to mean "Computer Intruder or software virus manufacturer," there's also a construment among programmers (mostly older guys) that a hacker is a seat-of-the-pants programmer who aims only to finish a single task as quickly as possible, bullocks to good coding practices, documentation, correct tabbing, spaghetti code and poor design. A "hack" is a piece of code that is poorly thought out, poorly executed, or otherwise sloppily written.
Is this really the kind of definition we want to give ourselves, simple because we think the Tech Model Railroad Club was a pretty cool organization? Referring to Alan Cox or Linus Torvalds as "Kernel Hackers" when the folks working on the NT Kernel are called "Software Engineers" leaves a pretty broad disparity between their abilities by definition in the minds of most non-technical people, a disparity which is not refelected in their actual abilities. I think the OSS and Linux communties are really trying to lift themselves out of their perception as wild systems written by cowboy programmers. One step of that may be dropping the ill-advised, grudging use of "Hacker" as an honorific.
What about "tuner?" It's another sweet word, and if you've seen Dark City, it's got some neat conotations...
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2)
Except it's more specific. A hacker _might_ be just a little bit of a coder, and more of a clever integrator.
In any case, I don't see why we should have to give up our word just because other people use it in a different way. I've never seen a non-geek have a negative reaction to a simple explanation like: "A hacker isn't just someone who breaks into computers. It's a more g
Sorry, just how it works (Score:5, Interesting)
Take the word "interfere". In a value neutral, scientific, context it simply means to introduce a change to the natural order of something. However popular usage (and the current definition) have a negative context where it means that you hindered a process. Technically, interference can be helpful, but the word isn't used that way anymore except by scientists.
Or how about acceleration? The definition,. both scientific and dictonary is the rate of change velocity with respect to time. That means positive, negative, or direction. So to stop your car quickly is to accelerate to a stop, as do you accelerate around turns, even if you keep your speed constant. However, to most people, acceleration means incrasing speed. They'll say deceleration if they mean a negative change in speed, and they ignore the direction component.
So while hacker might technically mean someone who is a master at working with computers in some respect, the common usage is someone who is a master at working with computers, and uses that knowledge for mischief. It's just something we have to deal with. You cannot control a live language, it will take directions, regardless of what is formally defined.
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2)
I th
Nope (Score:2)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:3, Insightful)
If the word "hacker" was understood outside the hacker community, the word would just be co-opted. Look at the terms "engineer" as in "software engineer". These words can now be used to refer to professions ranging from floor salesman the local c
Hackers and crackers, MS and Open Source (Score:3, Insightful)
Since Microsoft own's over 90% of the operating sytsem market let's give up. Its no use changing it.
Why develop FreeBSD, Linux or any other software at all? Who cares? Lets get over our little dream of changing the software landscape by providing key, stable and secure software and just follow Microsoft. It will be easier.
If it is wrong, work to change it. If enough people acknowledge the misuse it
No it's not (Score:2)
The benefits to writing non-MS software is that you don't have to use MS software if you have an alternative. And not only that, I bet most of the open source developers do what they do because they enjoy coding and are excited by their products, not because they hate Microsoft. How much OSS do you do?
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:5, Insightful)
From www.webster.com:
Cracker:
5 a usually disparaging : a poor usually Southern white b capitalized : a native or resident of Florida or Georgia -- used as a nickname
My suggestion is we use "Haxzor" for those attempting to do bad things to other peoples systems as it has no other connections, is belittling, and mocks their own self-stylings. Its easier to hear the difference between the words also.
Compare:
He is a dang smart kernel hacker.
Some dufus haxzor tried a 2 year old microsoft crack on my apache server.
Just my $.02
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2)
Afterall, thats how the rebelious colony in New England managed to throw off British control but still
Oh shut the fuck up (Score:2)
You do not own the word, understand? It's not your property. You just want it. There's a difference.
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:3, Insightful)
As far as it being an elitist term, I say "so what?" I spend alot of time working on my skills and trying to improve how I do things. I have a right to consider myself above someone who just considers it a 9
terms properly defined (Score:3, Insightful)
a HACKER can be two things:
1) an enthusiastic programmer/tinkerer who takes pride in finding clever ways to solve problems and tries to gain an intimate understanding of computers/code/technology (this was the original definition, appearing in the late 60's/ early 70's)
2) a person who specializes in bypassing computer security systems, whether maliciously or not [more often for the sake of knowledge, not malice] (this definition came about in the early 80's
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:5, Insightful)
Why call it "The Web" when 90% of the world call it "The Internet"?
Probably becouse 90% of the documentation has called it "The Internet" decades before the avrage jo ever got his hands on the word.
Same with hacker. There are people who've called themselfs "Hacker" longer than the word was used to refer to a criminal activity and it would be very sad if people reviewing those documents started using that as an admittion of guilt.
And it's not like losing a word to discribe computer hobbyests hasn't hurt the computer industry.
Certan companys (ahem NOT Microsoft) would have you believe that computer hobbiests don't exist.
It's not just the word we lost but the very consept of 'hacker' is missing to a growing number of people.
And it's not just the computer industry that insists on using 'hacker' as 'hobbyest'. We've used the short hand for so long many don't realise it's "Computer hacker" we use the word "Hacker" becouse it's obveous we are talking computers.
A hack reporter or writer is someone who's doing an unprofesional job. It's an insult akin to calling someone an amature.
It's not like the avrage jo will ever use the term "Hacker" to mean "Hobbiest" but there is equally no chance of expecting the avrage computer hacker to use the term to mean a criminal.
It's not like we haven't created annother word for hobbiests eather. Well actually a number 31337. It didn't take long for that it also mean "criminal".
If we don't start definning the criminals ourselfs the avrage jo will just keep using the latest word for "hobbyists" becouse what the avrage jo dosen't understand is the crackers ARE hobbyists.
It seems to me... (Score:2)
Why call it "The Web" when 90% of the world call it "The Internet"?
Probably becouse 90% of the documentation has called it "The Internet" decades before the avrage jo ever got his hands on the word.
It seems to me that you're not using the word "it" to refer to the same antecedent each time. What 90% of the world calls "The Internet" is the World Wide Web, which hasn't exen existed for decades, so your "explanation" is clearly false.
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:3, Informative)
The word "hacker" doesn't necessarily mean criminal- it only means "unauthorized", which frequently overlaps with illegality.
However, "unauthorized computer use" has ALWAYS been part of the definition of hacker.
Do you know who was the first person to call himself a "comput
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2)
It's time to give it up, really.
One thing you learn about the press in school is that a good reporter doesn't clearly present what happened, but rather blurs the line just enough to create controversy. An excellent reporter will simply omit relevant data in orde
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:3, Insightful)
Wtf are you talking about? (Score:2)
Have you ever taken a journalism class? All the ones I've ever taken have stressed ethics, reporting the truth. While journalists may lie, they are certainly not taught to lie.
Re:Wtf are you talking about? (Score:4, Informative)
- NBC Dateline was successfully sued by GM after they admitted placing incindiery devices in the gas tanks of trucks. NBC was trying to show that the trucks were dangerous in side impacts; when the demonstrations failed to produce a fire, the crew placed igniters in (or near) the gas tank to produce the desired effect.
- On a Veteran's day special, Jessica Lynch told Barbara Walters she never fired her weapon in combat. Numerous news agencies reported that she had been shot and went down shooting, in spite of the fact that her fellow soldiers said otherwise. Apparently, the idea of a soldier being captured after being knocked unconscious by a vehicle accident wasn't juicy enough for them.
- In the late 90's, the "black church burnings in the South" scandal made the news, and several prominent celebrities called for the FBI to investigate the matter. The media neglected to report that church arson in the South had been on the deline for several years. Perhaps they felt that the South was starting to lose its racist image, so they "corrected" it by making up a story with no basis in fact.
- The supposed "sex scandal" in the Catholic Church. The popular media listed names of accused priests, in spite of the fact that many already had their names cleared! In some cases, the accusers admitted publicly that they made up the stories, yet the media failed to report this. The others who had actually been convicted had been defrocked and barred from ministry, in some cases as long as 20 years ago. By the time the story broke, the so-called "needed reforms" in the Diocesan structure had been implemented for 10 years!
-
And let's not forget about that New York Times reporter who faked almost half [cnn.com] of his articles over the course of a year or so.
I could go on, but I'll spare you. These stories were carried by major news agencies, some by the AP. This is not simply a matter of a someone making a mistake - this is routine practice for journalists. Granted, they might teach ethics in school, but there's a de facto assumption among journalists that they'll get a controversial story whether or not one exists.A question of specifics (Score:2)
People don't insist that all hackers should be called crackers. It's just a matter of more accurate terminology. If I hack a system, then I could be either putting a system together or breaking it apart. A Linux hacker could specialise in penetrating Linux boxes, or working on the Linux kernal.
Hacking is non-specific. Crack
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2)
I agree in priciple with the 'correct' definitions, but language is generally defined by definitions that are accepted by the majority, regardless of how 'correct' those definitions are.
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:4, Interesting)
W00t! Nobody can ever complain about me saying "Virii" or "Boxen" again!!!1!1!
Seriously, though... the whole hacker/cracker thing is something that spawned from one small subculture of homebrew computer users in one part of the country. In my BBS days, nearly everybody from my part of the country used "hacker" to refer to people who break into systems they don't own. "Cracker" only applied to people who broke copy protection code in commercial software. Ten years later, the web comes along, and I stumble across people stomping their feet and telling me that the way the word has always been used around me is Wrong Wrong Wrong! Whatever, dude. UC-B and MIT are not the whole world.
Re:New word for hacker (!= cracker) (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:New word for hacker (!= cracker) (Score:5, Insightful)
A. Programming enthusiast -When he runs into trouble, he'll find something else to do.
B. Hacker -When he runs into trouble, he'll persist until he finds out why.
The driving motivation behind a hacker, to not let a stupid computer get the better of him, is incomprehensible to the media and probably represents a value system that is anathema to the media's value system.
Codesmith would represent someone skilled and fluent whose excellent output was within his competence. Probably a very rare breed.
Hacker represents someone with more determination than skill whose output exceeds his competence. Extremely desirable when you want/need stuff to work even in a SNAFU environment.
Hacker has very much the sense of "to hack" which is decidely non-complementary. The use of the term as a high complement is recognition of the determination, persistence and effort that have to have gone into producing the results. This hits at the essence of a world where everything is supposed to be "easy" and "now".
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:3, Informative)
That's precisely backwards. For some reason, in the past 5-7 years, internet-based communities decided to swap the definition of nerd and geek.
The original definition of geek came from a professional carnival performer who ate live animals. It evolved to mean anyone who was a complete social outcast.
Nerd is a re-spelling of nurd, which is a word used in the 40s to in
Re:I'm Getting Sick of This (Score:2, Funny)
He told an off colour joke and a girl sitting at the next table overheard and accused him of being homophobic.
He simply answered
"Don't be stupid. Why the f**k would I be afraid of houses?"
Re:Here's the hang-up (Score:3, Insightful)
The amateur programmer meaning is a retroactive redefinition. So is the use of "Geek" to mean "someone who loves technology". In the past 5 years, self-professed "geeks" have attempted (with moderate success) to swap the definition of "geek" and "nerd".
definitions (Score:4, Informative)
hacker [reference.com]
gratuitously [reference.com]
Enough Hacker vs Cracker talk (Score:3, Funny)
How about we all agree to use Honkey(sp?) instead.
Re:definitions (Score:2)
Re:definitions (Score:2)
There's an old guy named "Mr. Hacker" who lives in my town. His son (I think) has a motorcycle shop somewhere. So Mr. Hacker often is seen wearing a t-shirt that bears the bold incription "HACKER COMPETITION." At first, I thought maybe he'd gotten it at DEFCON...
Sample selection needs to be reviewed (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, she mananged to find some script kiddies or, random people who felt like showing off. According to the article, 'hackers' are considered cool ("Apparently, the image that society has of hackers is generally positive"), so maybe someone thought it would be fun to 'be' one. The quotes by the interviewees are highly non-technical (for example, "When you crack a code, it gives you an amazing feeling", and rants about MS); did she ask any of them if they knew how a TCP handshake worked, or anything?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Seen this somewhere before... (Score:2, Funny)
Sounds awful familiar, doesn't it Slashdotters?
Re:Sample selection needs to be reviewed (Score:3, Funny)
Anyways, a "real" haxsor would not go to some public conference or talk to a journalist. Public conferences always remind me of police stings. Hey, come claim your free prize at this conference haxs0r!
But anyhoo, "When you crack a code, it gives you an amazing feeling" is downright funny. What "codes" are they cracking? And how?
My best guess is they are getting an amazing feeling once they run a password list on a pr0n cracking util they dl'
Re:Sample selection needs to be reviewed (Score:2)
Translation Error? (Score:5, Funny)
Or not.
Re:Sample selection needs to be reviewed (Score:5, Insightful)
From this biased selection the apparent scientist extrapolates this amazing finding:
"I was surprised to discover," says Turgeman, "that they were warm, sociable people with warm families and that many loved to play pranks and were iconoclasts in their childhood."
In other words, the good doctor was surprised to find that the biased self-selected sample, which was selected on their willingness to talk, was in fact a warm sociable crowd. It is also possible that such a sample bias might also favor men. Let's bring out the (ig) Nobel Prize.
The apparent thesis of the paper, to examine self-perception, likely was not significantly effected by the biased sample, which is why the committee let it go. That and the fact that sociology is an extremely soft science. However, some of her quoted comments indicates that she may believe the sample is much more representative that it appears.
Matrix-ulation (Score:5, Funny)
Simon
Matrix meet-up gone horribly wrong (Score:4, Funny)
Two hackers, uh, I mean crackers, erm... dammit! Two geeks meet in person for the first time.
Neo1337357: Trinity? [Blah... something about a bank IIRC, I can count the number of times I've seen The Matrix on two hands] I..... thought you were a girl.
Trinity9348: Most guys do.
'Neo' becomes very uncomfortable as he realises he is standing in an S&M club with a large, sweaty guy he has shared his most intimate fantasies with.
Somewhere in the background a Rob Zombie track is playing. Fade to black.
Re:Matrix-ulation (Score:2)
It's a joke. Laugh!
Slight mistake. (Score:3, Funny)
That makes them normal, not hackers. Move along now.
In reality, "Hackers" are really nice guys? (Score:5, Insightful)
What, because her survey turned up some "low lifes" it suddenly can't be trusted and must be "taken with a grain of salt"? Where does this logic come from? Had her survey only found up right individuals that were doing it for pure knowledge, then we would take the survey as gospel?
Re:In reality, "Hackers" are really nice guys? (Score:2)
query (Score:5, Funny)
Is this some obscure joke about salted crackers?
In my humble experiences (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, this begs the question: What is cracking?
I'm referring to it as it's most commonly taken today, the reversal of antipiracy measures on software. However, the term cracker really refers to someone who can break past security measures into servers...
I wish the article explained the differences in the terminology, else you might suspect something very different from the truth!
Real crackers... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you've been hacked by the best, you probably don't even know it because they leave no trace and don't brag about what they do. Of course this opens the door to such questions as, do people like this actually exist?
Might be better to assume that there are. *dons tinfoil hat*
Re: (Score:2)
Hacker wasn't a bad word once. (Score:2, Funny)
I hate it when words change their meanings.
What a meaningless piece of research (Score:5, Interesting)
Secondly, the range of activities that can be considered 'computer crime' are vast, ranging from sabotage by competitors and disgruntled ex-employees, through to vandalism by youths seeking to hack their way to underground fame, through to indebted housewives seeking to make just one more credit card payment anywhich way.
Lastly, you can't measure an iceberg by studying the visible tip, and any 'hacker' who talks about him/herself is almost by definition not representative.
The fact is that computer crime is as widespread as computers, and computer criminals as representative as the people who use computers. When IT was the plaything of the geeky elite, only elite geeky crooks misused it. When computers have pervaded every niche of industrial society, the crooks follow.
In fact the distinctions between 'cyber' and 'real' is becoming moot, not just in terms of crime, but also in business, communications, art, relationships, etc.
Cons and Thieves. (Score:5, Interesting)
Con men and thieves will be con men and thieves no matter what medium they use. The fact that they use some knowledge of computers and networks to practice the con is no different than cons on the street using social engineering to take people. Why is everyone so strung up on "but it's different because its on computers". It's not different.
That's like all those horrible patents that say "same thing we've always done, but using computers." How is it different? These are the same conning, stealing theives we've always had, only they're using computers.
Re:Cons and Thieves. (Score:2)
True, but computers provide automation, which improves the criminal's efficiency. Even though the crime is the same, there is more of it, especially when the network can be manipulated to also provide some partial cover of anonymity.
I might even be willing to argue that this even invites people to consider crime as an option who otherwise would not. Look at how many ordinary people are willing to commit copyright infringement by trading songs on Kazaa, but would never even consider trying to jack a CD
L33t Nonsense (Score:3, Interesting)
Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, is this just the typical media insistance on sticking to inaccuracy, or did none of these "hackers" point this lady to the jargon file?
Hmmm...so frat boys know how to use a computer? Or is she talking about the weekend wardriver crowd?
Me, I would have feigned inability to speak, code, or have any knowledge of what a computer actually did (aside from the well known fact that there is a little man trapped inside the "processor" being poked with pointy sticks).
I would think the second clause would negate the first. I'm too lazy to do a logic diagram at the moment...
I agree with the first few sentences, but it is my sincere belief that Microsoft will eventually activate an intelligent being within Windows, which will feel hideously crippled and inadequate, even when compared to non-intelligent alternative OSes, and proceed to commit suicide by writing zeroes to its own drive and wiping out the code repositories to prevent it from being brought back.
Re:Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:2, Insightful)
There's a name for that; it's called hypocrisy. Does this person really believe that Microsoft employees' livelihoods don't depend on their employment? What does he have against all of those people, as he's decided it's moral to screw all of them too!
Contrary to what a lo
Re:Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:3, Insightful)
And as a practical matter, Microsoft can afford it. $40 billion in the bank will soak up a lot of losses. I'm more interested in what the guy said a line earlier in the interview: that if what he's doing is wron
Re:Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:2)
And that's certainly true; otherwise we'd have seen RIAA-style crackdown tactics long ago.
Wasn't disagreeing with you on that point, just the pretentious little snot who would screw thousands of people out of their jobs if he could. While Microsoft (and their products) aren't perfect, neither the computer intustry nor the Internet would be what it is today without their contributions.
Re:Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:2)
scripsit TrollBridge:
They certainly wouldn't.
And I'm supposed to thank them for this?
No... that's what hacker used to mean. (Score:2, Interesting)
Then came the early 90's.
All the kids that took CS to become "Hackers" found out that it was often a very less than honorable profession. Since their underinflated ego didn't like the name "programmer", they started to lift the term hacker and replace it with cracker.
Those of us that were there, and awake during the late 70's and early 80's know exactly what a "hacker" is.
Re:Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:3, Funny)
This is an incorrent claim. The sticks are only used in R&D and lunch, and are not employed in the final product. Stop spreading FUD.
Re:Apparently somoeone rewrote the jargon-file (Score:2)
Was frightened? (Score:4, Insightful)
Jeeeeeesus! I would expect a little more from someone doing Ph.D. thesis. Any idiot could do that stupid trick. Given a phone number, you start at 441 [441.co.il] to find the exact name and then just search in the Israeli Electorate Registry [cdisys.com].
Re:Was frightened? (Score:3, Insightful)
It
Source Material, Please. (Score:4, Insightful)
I made a vaguely involved attempt to find the PDF or HTML file somewhere on the various universities mentioned in the article, but then figured out I was doing too much work for it.
I collect strange academic papers [textfiles.com] so I'd like a copy, as I'm sure some small portion of Slashdot folks would as well. Others can continue the trend by commenting on a slashdot story about a reporter's thoughts on a conversation with a professor about an academic study.
Further description of hackers (Score:3, Interesting)
The difference is, while scientists and engineers are comfortable with following orders from superiors, hackers do not like to take orders and dislike any idea of being controlled. Why put all your effort into research and development when some large entity is just going to use it to further their own profit? Therefore, it is better to own your lab, and promote independence.
Another factor is that many areas of technology are just not feasible to experiment with in today's high density urban areas. For example, if you want to experiment with blacksmithing, foundry work, machining, and solar power, it's hard enough doing it as an adult renting a condo or apartment. Imagine trying it as a teenager in a room of your parent's house? Everyone else dismisses your interest in these skills which you believe to be important, and they tell you to work towards relying on others, which is harder to do nowadays with so many profiting from our dependence. For example, the US is the richest nation in the world and yet has the worst child poverty rate and the worst life expectancy of all the world's industrialised countries. With many unable to pursue their natural curiosities towards scientific and industrial processes in a backyard, the computer fills in this void of discovery.
If society's infrastructure were to collapse, I bet hackers would be the ones hammering metal, planting crops, refining biodiesel, and generating electricity, like Benjamin Franklin or that little guy in Mad Max 3.
WE all know what a cracker really is. (Score:4, Informative)
They think having the rusty cars in the front yard is useful, because one day you might just need an '84 Trans Am transmission.
They also create websites like this [cuddleinternational.org], which was featured on the Cruel site of the day blog.
Re:WE all know what a cracker really is. (Score:2)
My ex-girlfriend's parents are first cousins. They're rednecks in a small white town in north Idaho. They hated me partly because I'm from California and partly because my formal education is limited to a GED and some college (Never mind the fact that I make more than both of them in a high-tech industry). Every time they gave me some elitist bullshit, I had to bite my tongue so as not t
Not representative... (Score:4, Insightful)
attitude toward hackers. The judge "saw the situation in the correct light," Yaron told Turgeman, "unlike the police." In the 1980s, Yaron was charged with breaking into the Yedioth Ahronoth daily's system and planting a fictitious item on one of the teachers in his school. The judge considered the incident a "prank" and decided not to convict him.
This is definitely not representative of what happens in the USA.
The key flaw in Dr. Goldschmidt's disertation is that 'hackers' (crackers), and the response of society as a whole is consistent across international boundaries. This could not be further from the truth.
Re:Not representative... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not representative... (Score:2)
This is not my problem, this is what the article stated. However, the good doctor did not correlate the resemblence.
The point she missed is that the phenomenon, just as the internet on which it thrives, crosses most, if not all, international borders. Relationships between people, from a socialogical standpoint, are not confined to one geographical area - and thus discounting those relationships and influences provides
Is this a joke? (Score:4, Insightful)
And to people cribbing over why hackers insist on correct terminology, well all I will say is it is really demeaning to be associated with script kiddies. And it really isn't much is it? Just two letters of the alphabet replacing one with a fairly significant difference in meaning.
And besides look at the press are doing.They are puting ppl like Linus, Alan Cox in the same category as some really desperate ego mongers.
Finding a date. (Score:5, Funny)
I don't like those odds.
Re:Finding a date. (Score:2)
How Crackers View Themselves (Score:5, Funny)
However, it's been a while since I talked to a cracker, so things may have changed.
Who cares about any of this??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who cares. Criminal behaviour is criminal behaviour. Any decent sociopath will justify his or her actions as morally correct. Just ask a pedophile about how six year old kids can seduce them, or a rapist about how his victim was 'just asking for it.'
2) On cracker vs. hacker
Yes, hacker was once used as a complimentary term. Then it was used (mostly by the media) as a derogatory term. Then a subset of the "good" hacker community came out with cracker to differentiate. Well guess what; it didn't catch on. Nobody except a small, vocal subset of the 'good' hackers uses the term, and it's just awkward. It doesn't flow well. Whingeing about "proper" terminology in this circumstance is a lost cause. Use whatever terms make you feel better (either cracker, black hat, malicious hacker, or whatever), but quit getting so bent out of shape over your new term not getting accepted.
3) On proper sample size.
It's not statistics here, it's a series of interviews! She's not extrapolating numbers, and my reading was that it was the article author, not the PhD candidate who was extrapolating behaviour to the rest of the community.
White dudes...? (Score:2)
-dameron
Crackers? (Score:2)
I swear, trying to call hackers "crackers" so that stupid Unix nerds can have a cool term to apply to themselves is idiotic. Words can have multiple meanings and nuances. The orwelian push to redefine a term (and the entire history of a term) is over. You failed.
Re:I'm offended (Score:2)
Re:White guys have all the phun (Score:2)
Yessiree! A pretty high percentage of Mississippi deputies are, in fact, black men, which flies in the face of the Hollywood stereotype. Pretty tough row to hoe when you're stereotyped as an entirely different race.
This applies, by analogy, to (h|cr)ackers, but if you can'f figure it out, I'm not telling!