HACKERS; VICTIMS OF MEDIA STEREOTYPE written by; Violent Work Of Art It seems like you're always hearing in the news about hackers¹ who are getting put in jail for "hacking" into websites, stealing vital information and unleashing harmful computer viruses. What the public doesn't know is, it's not hackers who are breaking into those sites, it's crackers²; a completely different thing! Crackers are the one's who are cracking into websites, crashing networks, infecting online users with viruses and simply causing mayhem! But the media has put a stereotype all over hacker name claiming that they're the one's to blame for all the damage done! What they dont know is, hackers are the one's who made the Internet and the World Wide Web! Hackers are the one's who are testing security, making fully functional OS's (operating systems) for the everyday computer user, making firewalls, anti-virus programs and other security related software. But with the stereotyping that the media has put all over the hacker name companies are shutting down hacking related sites, getting people fired from their jobs because they're suspected of being a hacker and simply giving hackers a bad name. For example, I submitted a shorter version of this article to the website Adequacy (http://www.adequacy.org), but with their poor excuse of humor this is the response that I got (my Adequacy user name was "shadowfox"): --- "Dear shadowfox, We at Adequacy.org were offended by your recent submission entitled "Hackers; Victims of media stereotype." While we do not deny that many web site defacements and information thefts are the work of Caucasians, we find your unfounded assertion that all such attacks are performed by whites to be extremely distasteful. This was only compounded by your use of the ethnic slur "cracker." Please take your hatred of persons of European extraction elsewhere. We will not be publishing racist statements. Yours, Peter Johnson Senior Editor, Adequacy.org" --- They knew perfectly well what I meant by the term cracker, they just want to assure that hackers will become nothing more than a memory. It's websites like this that are giving hackers a bad name. If only the media and the public could see the truth behind all this, they would truly know that hackers are the people trying to protect online users, such as yourself, from the evil intentions of crackers! But until the media sees that they're wrong, hackers may never get the praise that they so rightfully deserve. If we dont do something about this now hackers may become a figment of the past. Then who will protect you from the malicious crackers? Exactly....no one. So please do something now to ensure that hackers will always be here to keep the online world a better place, thank you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- DEFINITIONS --------------------------------------------------------------------- ¹HACKER; 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker². ²CRACKER; One who breaks security on a system or program. --------------------------------------------------------------------- All information was provided entirely by Violent Work Of Art Article copyright © of Violent Work Of Art 2002 ---------------------------------------------------------------------