The problem with being pedantic about word definitions is that definitions change with time and according to society's whims. This is why dude and gay today do

The problem with being pedantic about word definitions is that definitions change with time and according to society's whims. This is why dude and gay today don't really mean what they used to mean. Individuals or even groups don't really have influence over what a definition should be if their desired definition goes against the flow of society's definition. Rather than creating the term cracking and attempting to get that in the public mind to refer to what they currently refer to as hacking is a waste of time. It's far easier to create a new word to refer to what is known to folks like Stallman as hacking. The only reason to not do so is due to sentimental value and emotional attachment to a definition that is not accepted by society, and it is society that sets a language's evolution. As such, such sentimental value is moot in the grand scheme of things.