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Personal pet peeve: It's 2013, and we're still calling these cyber criminals "hackers". This story is shared on ... HACKER News. Are we all criminals aficionad

Personal pet peeve: It's 2013, and we're still calling these cyber criminals "hackers". This story is shared on ... HACKER News. Are we all criminals aficionados here?

eli 14y ago
I think, respectfully, you should get over it. This fight was lost decades ago.
ritchiea 14y ago
Should we just call them cyber criminals? That's a lot of syllables. And it doesn't differentiate between technical crimes and crimes like cyber bullying and internet predators. If we really want to get away from hacker and criminal being synonymous to some we need another term that exclusively means "perpetrator of technical crime" to differentiate between the two.
dguido 14y ago
You know, others might have a pet peeve for exactly the opposite reason. A lot of what people call hacking now-a-days is building things with tools that were meant to do exactly what a developer is doing with them. This use of the term hacker seems to stand in opposition of what everyone else in the world considers the term to mean: newspapers, the majority of people outside the startup industry, and the actual hackers that overcome technical barriers that have been specifically placed in their way. Anywayyyyy, anyone know what this kid's handle was? Just curious.
- jgrahamc 14y ago
  Wikipedia says that he was behind the handle Kayla.
- trentlott 14y ago
  Check out my HTML5 hack of Pacman
redthrowaway 14y ago
Both meanings are legitimate uses of the word, "hacker". Those who matter can tell which one is being used by the context. Honestly, I think arguing for using the word "cracker" in place of "hacker" has a Stallman-esque feeling to it, now.
- darkstar999 14y ago
  I think you mean gnu/cracker.
- obviouslygreen 14y ago
  "Those who matter?" Hopefully you meant "those who understand the way people here use the term," which would be both more correct and less disingenuous. I agree, though, that the terminology argument is unhelpful and stale. Unfortunately, pedantic terminology attacks are often a lot easier than constructive debate or discussion.
malkia 14y ago
Following the pattern, should we put the Gang Of Four in prison then? :)
- eru 14y ago
  I am not sure, if they are still alive. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four)
  - koenigdavidmj 14y ago
    Since this is HN, there's quite the possibility that malkia means the authors of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns .
    - malkia 14y ago
      LOL. And yes... But it's quite funny to find out, that there was a real gang of four :)

Personal pet peeve: It's 2013, and we're still calling these cyber criminals "hackers". This story is shared on ... HACKER News. Are we all criminals aficionados here?

eli 14y ago

I think, respectfully, you should get over it. This fight was lost decades ago.

ritchiea 14y ago

Should we just call them cyber criminals? That's a lot of syllables. And it doesn't differentiate between technical crimes and crimes like cyber bullying and internet predators. If we really want to get away from hacker and criminal being synonymous to some we need another term that exclusively means "perpetrator of technical crime" to differentiate between the two.

dguido 14y ago

You know, others might have a pet peeve for exactly the opposite reason. A lot of what people call hacking now-a-days is building things with tools that were meant to do exactly what a developer is doing with them. This use of the term hacker seems to stand in opposition of what everyone else in the world considers the term to mean: newspapers, the majority of people outside the startup industry, and the actual hackers that overcome technical barriers that have been specifically placed in their way. Anywayyyyy, anyone know what this kid's handle was? Just curious.

jgrahamc 14y ago
Wikipedia says that he was behind the handle Kayla.
trentlott 14y ago
Check out my HTML5 hack of Pacman

redthrowaway 14y ago

Both meanings are legitimate uses of the word, "hacker". Those who matter can tell which one is being used by the context. Honestly, I think arguing for using the word "cracker" in place of "hacker" has a Stallman-esque feeling to it, now.

darkstar999 14y ago
I think you mean gnu/cracker.
obviouslygreen 14y ago
"Those who matter?" Hopefully you meant "those who understand the way people here use the term," which would be both more correct and less disingenuous. I agree, though, that the terminology argument is unhelpful and stale. Unfortunately, pedantic terminology attacks are often a lot easier than constructive debate or discussion.

malkia 14y ago

Following the pattern, should we put the Gang Of Four in prison then? :)

eru 14y ago
I am not sure, if they are still alive. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four)
- koenigdavidmj 14y ago
  Since this is HN, there's quite the possibility that malkia means the authors of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns .
  - malkia 14y ago
    LOL. And yes... But it's quite funny to find out, that there was a real gang of four :)