I travel in a very computer literate circle. I disagree with the media's use of the term Hacker. What the media considers a hacker I consider a cracker or scriptkiddie. I perfer the traditional definition of a hacker -someone who throughly understands something and can use that knowledge in a creative way.

The following "
2) What is a hacker?

Good question. A hacker is someone who hacks. What is hacking?=20
Well, there is a definition of hack in the Jargon File/New Hacker's
Dictionary that tries to cover it. The Jargon File is an awesome
resource for anyone interested in computers, so you should go read it.=20
Here's the URL:

HTTP://www.ccil.org/jargon/jargon.html

In short, hacking is about using available technology in a creative
way to solve a problem. It can be a stupid problem and an ugly
solution, as long as it is a new and creative solution. Hacking
extends to all forms of technology, not just computers--using the
thighbone of an antelope to bash in the head of another antelope was
an excellent hack. Now that I've given a short definition of what
hacking is, I can try and tell you what isn't a hack. Hacking is not
about breaking things. It isn't about denial of service attacks or
pirated software or deleting or stealing other people's data. If you
are interested in doing any of these things, alt.hackers is going to
bore you. Try the alt.2600.* hierarchy if you're looking for that
sort of conversation. And call yourself a cracker, not a hacker.

" is from http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&...ng.net&rnum=26

Cheers,
-D