It's always those pesky hackers. For all you journalists out there, take some more notes now: hackers always have long hair and dress in black and live somewhere underground where there's no sunlight. They are an elite force of dark lords that will take over your children and make them do illegal stuff.

Later on, another journalist was speaking for Euro News and describing various activities in which hackers are involved. Now you'll realize how far the misuse of the term has gone. And we are at the RSA Conference, hello??


According to him the activities of hackers include:

• Using programs like Back Orifice
• Using exploits
• Defacing websites
• etc.

Is there a way to save the term or is the debate finally over? Maybe the best thing would be to open a poll and find a new term to describe what "hacker" used to mean. All I can do is to point you to a good paper - How To Become A Hacker. Also, you might want to take a look at some definitions of the term hacker.