Why misuse terms "hacker" and "cracker" ??

Hi AO's,

I dunno whether this forum is the right place for this but couldn't find appropriate one :-) ! So, excuse-me.

Well, this really baffles me a lot, the inappropriate usage of the both terms "hackers" and "crackers" !!

Well, the real definition of hackers is :

"A hacker is a person intensely interested in the arcane and recondite workings of any computer operating system. Most often, hackers are programmers. As such, hackers obtain advanced knowledge of operating systems and programming languages. They may know of holes within systems and the reasons for such holes. Hackers constantly seek further knowledge, freely share what they have discovered, and never, ever intentionally damage data."

And term Cracker means:

"A cracker is a person who breaks into or otherwise violates the system integrity of remote machines, with malicious intent. Crackers, having gained unauthorized access, destroy vital data, deny legitimate users service, or basically cause problems for their targets. Crackers can easily be identified because their actions are malicious. "

I feel even AO website should change it's statement to "Crackers Know The Weaknesses Of Your System. Shouldn't You ?" instead of present one "Hackers Know The Weaknesses Of Your System. Shouldn't You ?"

I feel people confuses this terms a lot. I hope these definitions would reduce the confusions between these two terms.
So i request those who are confused, now on please use the right terms at right places.

What do u guys feel ??

Thanks in advance.

ok, i will resist the urge to say "hackers r teh suk' and say this; (if you dont like swearing, dont read .. this is quick reply, cant 'hide post'.)

i am sick to ****ing death of this hacker/cracker thing. 'oh no, mr egotistic hacker got called a cracker' *gasp*, the horror. i honestly dont give a **** about which one is used unless its like "hackers are ****sticks who are teh suk and liek to 0wnzors teh ppl with scriptz" or something. all those nazis who ****ing moan and bitch when someone accidently uses 'hacker' instead of 'cracker' because thats what they (and most of the world) are used to really *are* teh suk.

on your idea;
i dont see the point in replacing the motto; "hackers know the weaknesses in your system" is a true statement - crackers are actually less likely to know as they just use scripts/programs and are teh suk (is that pissing you guys off yet? :P).

I am sure that besides my self there are a few here that have been around long enough to be upset at the misusage of hacker.


A hacker is someone who breaks into computers
A cracker breaks copy protection on programs/encrypted files
A phreaker is someone who steal phone time.

At least that’s how it was until the Linux geeks showed up and tried to change the term hacker to mean a person who writes nonprofessional crappy code that looks neat.

Thanks for pointing that out. Threads merged and necessary posts deleted.