simple minds

The other day I was with a few friends went I met this girl. So we started talking about this and that, all of the sudden we get into the topic of computers and I tell her that I am the manager for an MIS department. All of the sudden she start talking "oh so you know about computer, are you a HACKER?"

Are you a HACKER? like if she has any idea what a hacker is or why hackers exist in the first place. I mean this is something I hate. Just because someone knows a little bit about security or can get around and "intrude on some Win9X machine" doesn't make them a hacker. She goes on telling me about how she is so intrigued about the "hacker world" like if she knew anything about it. So I asked her what does a Hacker mean to you? I got an answer of someone that can break into computer and do damage for their own benefit. That is something I hate as well. That is wrong. I mean I believe that their are people that do this for their own gain but the community at large are people that want to learn more and do not believe in the personal gain out of things done wrong but want to be able to do the things that people tell them are impossible. Figure out the world behind a computer screen.

It is just people like her and society that have an image of a world that is totally wrong and without the ablilty of them being able to understand why we do things. They become afriad of the thing they don't understand and close of the chance of understanding by hating.

Look at how the media portrays a hacker. The media is not familiar with the turn cracker. The public perception is that a hacker breaks into systems and steals or does damage. The members of this forum make a distniction but we run in different circels then the rest of the world -not trying to sound snooty.

Indeed, it's true. The pity is that it's impossible to educate them on the truth.

SSJVegeta-Sei

my favorite is when people get that shocked look on their face and gasp and say "are YOU a HACKER????" this usually comes after you saying "harddrive" or "format" or "cpu" or some other highly technical term

I get that question quite a bit also. I always tell them no, and if they don't leave me alone, I will revoke their drivers license.

No matter how much hackers try and make a distinction between hackers and crackers, the media will not go along. They are not going to start using the word hacker instead of cracker. So, what I think we should do, is stop using the word hacker. Let the crackers have the work hacker. Give hackers a different word, or even more then one word. Like Jackers for hardware hackers, and Stackers for ASM programmers, etc etc. We can have our own distinctions, and screw the media.

Not a bad idea, but it would be hard to get the term generally accepted.

secretfire.. is that the Aurora Borrialis?

Quote:

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Originally posted here by rute67
The other day I was with a few friends went I met this girl. So we started talking about this and that, all of the sudden we get into the topic of computers and I tell her that I am the manager for an MIS department. All of the sudden she start talking "oh so you know about computer, are you a HACKER?"

Are you a HACKER? like if she has any idea what a hacker is or why hackers exist in the first place. I mean this is something I hate.

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Man, do I have to explain everything to you?
She was trying to compliment you!

Next time you encounter this situation, you smile
modestly and say "well, I dont like to brag, but..."
At the rate you're going, youll never get a date.
:cool:

Nope, just a CG nebula reduced in size. Does look nice though (Had it as my desktop a while back)

Edit: Hmm, I just thought of one: "I am not a hacker, I simply enjoy the hobby of insecure network exploration."

I have found that most people are rediculously (or however that is spelled) clueless outside there own sphere of interest...and many people are just clueless in general!

Instead of getting angry at them, JP should give us all biz cards with the website on them that we can hand out to the clueless masses!

I'm sorry, but the girls I hang with wouldn't act that way to flatter a guy. Personally I have more fun perpetuating the myth of the ability to do anything. :D

She might have been complimenting me in this situation, which she wasn't. But this is something that has happened numerous occassions with both men and women thinking that they know something of "the HACKING WORLD" where actually they know nothing and just end up looking stupid.

The fact is that the world look down upon us as if we were some low class misfits that just want to break into everything and not what we actually are. I am not talking about crackers or phreakers or anything else. I am talking about hackers, people that just want to know and that have knowledge about things that 90 to 95% of others don't, and to us that knowledge is the power and benefit we use to better ourselves. Not by detroying but by improving things that need to be improved. This is something that girl doesn't and I don't think ever will understand.

Man, Hacker is such an OVER-USED term. if people only knew the true meaning...but it is a battle we can not win. we are just screwed by the media. personally i don't consider myself a hacker, i used to wear the black hat. however i have seen the error of my ways, and since then have heard more "bad boy" comments then when i was wearing the black hat. when someone calls me a hacker i direct them to my site, smile, and tell them to read before they talk about something they just don't understand. if people only knew the world we live in, understood the terms, and realized they offend us when they talk like that.

oh ya the site is www.shadowsnet.org go to the hacker area