why the term 'hacker' has got a bad meaning?

[infyquest]

hey, why does the term 'hacker' got a bad meaning? A 'Hacker' is a guy explores the everything in the software. He has done more good than bad to the computing world today. because of his efforts today we know the bugs n worms in the various softwares which are prevoiusly considered foolproof. They made a lot of FreeWare and ShareWare Utilities to help the Newbies and easy to learn n use to their commercial counterparts. they are the ones that are the brightest and intelligent persons on earth. but still why does world looks upon them as 'bad' guys. is it that the big corporate ones are making the hackers look bad to the whole world. Still i dont understand why the world looks upon hackers as criminals.

[Remote_Access_]

I'll answer your question briefly:
THE MEDIA

Remote_Access_

[celfie]

the media and people like you remote access

[Remote_Access_]

What the hell is your problem? I have NO EFFECT on why the term 'hacker' has a bad name. It's because of THE MEDIA and STUPID PEOPLE like you celfie. It's because you and other stupid people who cannot grasp it's meaning and understand it. Clever remark there celfie.. just point the finger at R_A and give your self a pat on the back for making yet another ingenius reply. Job well done.

Remote_Access_

[preacherman481]

Yeah,
I don't think I've heard anyone in the mainstream media make the "hacker"/"cracker" distinction. It's always just "hacker." I guess it's easier than trying to make people understand the difference.

[GbinaryR]

Yeah, a cracker is a bad guy who destroy files and computers. a hacker is a guy who can enter to computer and nets, but they don't destroy anything, they only see. I told these for the new guys on Cyber-World who believe everything they hear from the media.

[Nine Volt]

This topic cuaght my eye, I've thought about this at length before, and there are a lot of reasons regarding it.

When we designate a group of people or something else with a name, it is effectively what the society calls it, not what the people involved with it call it. For example, if we call a computer a computer, and the rest of the world around us calls it a tomato, it will go down in Websters as a tomato.
Now, as Remote Access pointed out, "its the media." Well, no ****, really. If the only exposure to the word "hacker" for "ordinary people" is when we hear about the latest Outlook exploit (though, imho, if you're running Outlook, you deserve trouble), then of course, mainstream society will recognize a hacker as a virus writer or some jerk who attacks servers to impress his friends along with plenty of other misrepresentation, like the slogan of this little security site I know of, "Hackers Know The Weaknesses In Your System. Shouldn't You?"

As for the distinction itself, NPR has occasionally run a story or commentary about how the word has become mangled, but I think I might be one of 34 or so people who listen to NPR

--

One other thing I want to add; some of my less computer literate friends see me in their eyes as quite the l337 hacker. Well, I find the workings of my computers fascinating, I can make them do some fun things you might not expect (or like), I've found a few AIM tricks, and I've attempted to design some simple computers with buckets of transistors, still, I don't consider myself mcuh of a hacker, which only serves illustrate my point, which is that you understand a word based on what you experianced in relation to it, not purely by any true or intended definition.



Maybe that was a little philisophical, lol.