[free-sklyarov] Hacker or Not?

[Declan McCullagh]

On Fri, Jul 27, 2001 at 02:25:51AM -0400, Tony Abou-Assaleh wrote:
> We (or most of us), the computer scientists, programmers,
> computer-hobbyists, etc .. are in fact hackers, using the original meaning
> of the term hacking that predates computers.
> 
> The media, mainly, has changed the meaning of this word. We can either
> encourage the new meaning by using 'hacker' only in the criminal context,
> or we can try to preserve the old meaning by using it whenever we can to
> refer to people who like to experiment and explore etc.

But people who *describe themselves* as hackers are part of this story.
Defcon, where Sklyarov was arrested, brags it's the world's largest
hacker gathering, 2600, the heretofore most prominent case, calls
itself the hacker quarterly, 2600 reps have been involved with the
Free Dmitry movement, even going to Ashcroft's press conference, and
the hacker underground is adding fuel to these protests.

Sorry, you don't get to tell the media ignore these things.

-Declan