From hungary-online-owner Wed Mar 8 02:08:37 1995 Return-Path: owner-Hungary-Online Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id CAA27215 for hungary-online-out31415; Wed, 8 Mar 1995 02:08:37 -0800 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id CAA27208 for hungary-online; Wed, 8 Mar 1995 02:08:24 -0800 Received: via =-=-=-=-= from ddt@lsd.com for hol@hungary.yak.net (hungary-online) Received: from netcom23.netcom.com (root@netcom23.netcom.com [192.100.81.137]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with ESMTP id CAA27141 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 1995 02:07:36 -0800 Received: from [192.187.167.52] by netcom23.netcom.com (8.6.10/Netcom) id CAA27231; Wed, 8 Mar 1995 02:07:02 -0800 Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Sender: Level Seven Design X-PGP-KeyID-Fprnt: 4AAF00E5 - 30D81F3484E6A83F 6EC8D7F0CAB3D265 X-PGP-KeyLocation: ftp.netcom.com:/pub/dd/ddt/crypto/ddtPGPkey.txt Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 02:09:59 -0800 To: hol@hungary.yak.net From: Dave Del Torto Subject: (HOL) hackers vs crackers: let's make the distinction Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net At 12:02 PM 3/6/95, Steven Carlson wrote: >I hate the term "hacker". It's become such a media buzzword. Me too, especially when it's misused. There's such a rash of semantic chaos out there, and so little sense to it all. A small voice of reason and fact: >For the record: a hacker is a talented person who attacks a technical >problem persisently and creatively until he finds a solution. I agree. This is a good generaic description. >The hacker creed lacks any other ethic. [...] Lack any other ethic? This doesn't sound like the same Steve Carlson talking...it's a really gross generalization to make. Hackers in fact have a very strong Ethic, including the desire that Information should be free to All, that systems exist to serve People and not the other way around and that open systems architecture is better than closed (among other important guidelines). When people talk about engineers lacking ethics, they're talking about "crackers." Those are the vandals and criminals of the Internet, as defined by the net.community people themselves. Very few people (journalists being the most egregiously misinformers among the populace) understand this distinction, but it's clear to the people involved. Anyone who calls a hack as cracker is making a bad mistake. Crackers are terrorists, unconcerned with the ethical implications of breaking into systems and altering or stealing data, whereas hackers would never conscience such acts of vandalism. Mitnick is clearly a sociopathic cracker. Anyone who's a real hacker does his/her best to distance him/herself from Little Kevin's brand of puerile delinqency (not to mention stupidity - the guy practically left a trail of bread crumbs for anyone smart enough to see them). Fortunately, he'll be going away for a long, long time. By the time he gets another computer in his hands (unless the Mafia sets him up in prison), he'll be so far behind the times, as to be an inconsequential threat. I hope. I strongly recommend that people who want to understand the Hacker Ethic better go out and read the excellent book entitled "Hackers" by Steven Levy. >There are bad hackers, and there are bad businessmen. Well, that's for dang sure, but let's not confuse people by referring to what are really crackers as "bad hackers." I hope I've helped to put the matter straight: it's not easy with major newspapers getting it wrong on the front page every day. dave ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from Dave Del Torto # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############