4 ms·
I remember reading a blog post[1] by a person whose tech/startup related business had them travelling in/out of the US on a semi-regular basis. They were stoppe
by gaelian 12y ago
I remember reading a blog post[1] by a person whose tech/startup related business had them travelling in/out of the US on a semi-regular basis. They were stopped and questioned by immigration officials during one such trip. Here's a quote from the post:
I further explained that my current work visa application had been complicated due to a filing mistake and that I had been waiting on a decision. This fell on deaf ears. They searched my backpack, found my hackathon badge which drew incredible suspicion and asked, “What’s a hackathon? Are you a hacker?” I slowly explained that I’m a social entrepreneur promoting global change through the concept of ‘hackathons’ where attendees work together and find solutions to community issues within a tight time constraint. They were dismissive and didn’t seem to want to hear an explanation.
I don't disagree with you that the conversation relating to the dominant definition of the word "hacker" and related terms is over with the more narrow mainstream definition winning out. I do think however, that the disparate meanings of the word and related terms can lead to some surprisingly unfortunate misunderstandings. Maybe one solution is for people like us to start using a different word for what we typically mean when we use "hacker" in the more general sense. Though I guess if that hasn't happened by now, it's probably not going to.
1. https://medium.com/@aurora/are-we-welcome-entrepreneurs-or-unwanted-criminals-7c105b9fbc9c https://medium.com/@aurora/are-we-welcome-entrepreneurs-or-u...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]