Hackers, questi sconosciuti

Attualmente il termine Hacker è usato ignorantemente, principalmente dai media, per definire una sorta di criminale informatico, colui che "ti entra nel computer e:

1. ti cancella tutto
2. ti infetta con un trojan/virus
3. ti ruba le passwords/codici carte di credito
4. ti spia
   
5. ti manda  fuori uso (denial of service, DoS)
6. qualsiasi altra cosa vi venga in mente... "
   

cazzo! ma allora è Bill Gates! :D

Bando alle ciance Il suo significato originale invece Tratto da il Jargon file :

[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]

1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. RFC1392, the Internet Users' Glossary, usefully amplifies this as: A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular.

2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.

3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.

4. A person who is good at programming quickly.

5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in ‘a Unix hacker’. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)

6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.

7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.

8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker, network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker.