> [T]he classic hackers lost that linguistic battle or at least achieved stalemate decades ago. The classic hackers weren't above breaking computer or even phy

> [T]he classic hackers lost that linguistic battle or at least achieved stalemate decades ago. The classic hackers weren't above breaking computer or even physical security where they felt it was in the way of their work or curiosity, either, so in relation to pre-extortionist hacking it's probably less like a battle Stallman and others branded it as and more like a messy civil war. Of course, once less-than-technical reporters get into it, everybody else might as well give up (witness "dark web"). I did have the same misunderstanding as you, to be fair :)