What is a Hacker?, definition of a hacker..

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What is a Hacker?If you are new to hacking, you probably assume that computer criminals are hackers. Heck, that's what the news media tells us. However, calling criminals "hackers" makes real hackers angry. Eric Raymond, author of “The New Hacker's Dictionary,” argues, “Real hackers call these people ‘crackers’ and want nothing to do with them... being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker any more than being able to hot wire cars makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word ‘hacker’ to describe crackers; this irritates real hackers no end... “The basic difference is, hackers build things; crackers break them.” The “Hacker Jargon File” (Version 2.9.6, 16 August 1991), adds that “Hacking might be characterized as `an appropriate application of ingenuity'. Whether the result is a quick-and-dirty patchwork job or a carefully crafted work of art, you have to admire the cleverness that went into it. An important secondary meaning of{hack} is `a creative practical joke'.”