Re: Linux Security News Roundup (incorrectly posted before as Linux Advisory Roundup, which is different)

From: DaveAI (junktarget_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/23/04 

Date: 22 Jul 2004 19:03:00 -0700

Juhan Leemet <juhan@logicognosis.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.07.22.20.36.12.131559@logicognosis.com>...
> On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 09:12:26 -0700, DaveAI wrote:
> > This newsletter contains...
> >
> > * Pssst--wanna buy some source code?
> > July 15th, 2004
> >
> > A group of self-identified hackers has set up shop online to sell what
> > it claims are files containing confidential software code--and it says
> > it's ready to take orders for more.
>
> GRRRR!!!! These guys are "CRACKERS" (as in safe-crackers, breaking and
> entering, theft, etc.) and not "hackers". I really get steamed when the
> media take perfectly good words, get them wrong, then hype the hell out of
> them and spin all kinds of stories in their fantasy worlds.
>
> The term "hacker" comes from way back, about 30+ years ago? and was
> defined IIRC in the "MIT Hackers' Dictionary" (jargon file). These guys
> were originally a model railroading club, which became interested in relay
> logic, and then progressed to a fascination and facility with computers.
>
> The best definition I've seen is:
>
> "A hacker is someone who makes furniture with an axe."
>
> That sums up the spirit or animus of "hacking" in the most accurate way.
> It was also self-deprecating humour, often used by system wizards when
> they weren't particularly proud of their workarounds and quick fixes.
>
> "A cracker...." is something altogether different.
>
> ...or is everybody soon going to be just "like, a guy"?

I blame the media for this. I think it all started with the movie
Wargames in the 80s. Not a bad movie per se, but it really did a lot
to romanticize computer crime.

I don't even like the term "cracker". I prefer "inmates". :)

-Dave

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