Wellicht slightly offtopic maar hoe zijn de definitie "cracker" en "hacker" eigenlijk ontstaan of wat is de bron die men volgt in de discussies rond scheiding van deze termen? Ik kom correct gebruik van de woorden eigenlijk alleen tegen in informatiebeveiligingsliteratuur. Wanneer woordenboeken etc anders stellen dan de aangehouden scheiding, welke bron hanteren mensen dan wel om deze scheiding te verdedigen?
Als ik kijk naar de history van het woord 'hacker' in het wikipedia artikel dan is de juiste betekenis verre van duidelijk of echt officieel vastgelegd vanuit historisch oogpunt.
Ook andere bronnen zijn minstens onduidelijk over het onderscheid:
Is cracker the correct word? Is hacker wrong? First, let's look at the facts.
OXFORD
The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1999) describes a hacker as "a person who uses computers to gain unauthorized access to data" or "an enthusiastic computer programmer or user." The book, as thick as a loaf of bread, contains more than 350,000 definitions, but not one of them makes a connection between the word cracker and computers.
WEBSTER'S
The 1998 Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that a hacker is either "an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer" or "a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system." The tome lists more than a quarter of a million definitions but, again, does not link the word cracker to computers.
CANADIAN OXFORD
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (1998) goes a bit further. After the usual, lengthy description of cracker (as a thin dry biscuit, a paper cylinder given out at parties that makes a sharp noise when pulled at both ends, a type of firework, a notable or attractive person, a fine example of something, and an offensive term for a poor white person in the southern United States), there, at the bottom of the heap, are the words: "in computing, a hacker who wilfully damages or destroys the information or systems accessed." To some editors at Oxford, then, a cracker is a type of hacker.
De beste conclusie is denk ik deze:
Language is alive. Words come and go. Definitions change. And many, if not most, words wind up with more than one meaning, which is referred to as polysemy. When the meanings are contradictory you have a contronym. (For instance, fast can suggest stuck firmly or moving quickly, and winding up a meeting is the opposite of winding up a watch.) For centuries, hacker has been polysemic. Its meanings have included someone who cuts wood, coughs, stammers, breaks up land with a mattock, or plays golf poorly. For at least 15 years hacker has enjoyed three other definitions: (1) a computer enthusiast; (2) a computer expert; and (3) someone who breaks into computer systems. Nobody owns the word. Nobody can force people to use it in a certain way.
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Voor 84% gewijzigd door
Bor op 09-06-2007 19:16
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. (Sonja Bakkeren 
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