So normally you say "hacker" I say "Coolio." I consider
myself pretty pro-hacker. Hackers do a lot of neat stuff
like annoying big business and keeping information free...
blah blah blah. But I think my kinda hackers may want to do
a little PR voodoo to make sure they are not confused with
the other kinda "hacker."
I'm talking about folks like Richard Timmons, who hacked his family to death in
1997. Both APB Online and the Daily News refer to Timmons as a "hacker," guilty
of "hacking." You see where the confusion could arise, right?
Just to recap: Hacking mainframes => Good. Hacking children's heads off => Bad.
I suggest a media campaign to prevent consumer confusion and create a stronger
brand awareness for the good "hacker." Press releases and open letters should
be sent to new organizations to encourage them to use the less ambiguous terms
"Ax Murderer" or "Decapitator" whenever possible when referring to the
other hacker. If these measures fail, good hackers may have to resort to
copyright suits to prevent the miss-use of their genre lable.
