Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!tekecs!davidl From: davidl@tekecs.UUCP (David Levine) Newsgroups: net.misc,net.nlang Subject: Changing meaning of term "hacker" Message-ID: <2084@tekecs.UUCP> Date: Tue, 13-Sep-83 13:14:43 EDT Article-I.D.: tekecs.2084 Posted: Tue Sep 13 13:14:43 1983 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Sep-83 04:27:50 EDT References: houxa.242 Lines: 31 In an article recently submitted to net.misc and net.legal by houxa!9212osd, reporter Bob De Sando of the Asbury Park (NJ) Press was quoted as saying: A 'hacker' is a person who uses a personal home computer to decipher the access codes of another, usually for the 'fun' of the challenge. Once the code is broken, a hacker can gain access to confidential information and even alter the computer's programming. HOLY COW!! Mr. De Sando's definition is the first real evidence I've seen of a trend which bothers me no end: the use of 'hacker' to refer to computer break-in artists. This casts a severe shadow on those of us who are hackers (in the older sense of the term: people who enjoy fooling around with computers) and have used the term to refer to ourselves in the past. What can we do to prevent our friends and neighbors from treating us with suspicion, now that they know what hackers 'really' are? Is there any way to fight this abuse of one of our most treasured buzzwords? Could we perhaps invent a new word for these petty computer criminals, or a new word for true hackers? (I think that any discussion on this issue belongs in net.nlang, not net.misc, but I'm posting to net.misc because that's where I saw the original article.) -- David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!davidl) [UUCP] (...tekecs!davidl.tektronix@rand-relay) [ARPA]