Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by kefka 3464 days ago
Hmm. I've always taken the recent hacker/cracker as the following:

Hacker: One who breaks into computer systems or networks one does not control or have access to.

Cracker: One who breaks into software and firmware on their devices as to gain control of root over their machines. This may be in contention with the arbitrary licenses they may have agreed to prior to installation or purchase.

1 comments

I bet kittihawk is talking about the usage of cracker as a derogatory term as it regards to white people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(pejorative)