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Professor Deibert is highly sensitive to labeling and deliberately chose and insists on denying the use of the bare term "hacker" to categorize Citizen Lab acti
by otoburb 10y ago
Professor Deibert is highly sensitive to labeling and deliberately chose and insists on denying the use of the bare term "hacker" to categorize Citizen Lab activities, instead preferring terms such as "hacktivism", self-styling himself as a "hacktivist", and his team as "researchers" in interviews and his blog[1].
[1] https://deibert.citizenlab.org/ https://deibert.citizenlab.org/
- developer2 10y agoExactly. Quote from the article: >> Ron Deibert has led a team of counterespionage hackers—he prefers “researchers”—... It's explicitly stated that his preferred term is "researchers", and yet the Globe and Mail appears to go out of their way to sensationalize by first introducing the word "hackers". Upon reading the full article, the use of the term "hacker(s)" is minimal, and used appropriately for what we self-identifying hackers would use it for. I've become so accustomed to the word being used negatively that it takes a lot of mental effort to notice when it is used in a neutral or positive tone. I still find it fairly annoying that they included the word in the headline, as though to attract more views with a "controversial buzzword". It's true: the word "hacker" has long since been poisoned by the media. They cannot get away with using the term anymore, even with no ill intent. They spent over a decade using the term to rip people and communities apart. The damage is done, and no amount of effort on their part is going to allow them to sound sincere.