Note: Posted for those interested in online news.

link

By Brian McWilliams InternetNews.com Correspondent E-Commerce News Archives

Another e-commerce site has been turned inside out by a cracker. Someone calling himself "Curador" claims to have stolen the entire sales database of an unidentified online site, including more than 5,000 credit card numbers. -snip-

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000

Answers

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-- Richard Markland (newsman@bright.net), February 01, 2000.

A cracker!! Why, that's a racist statement if I ever heard one!! Is this really Rocker?

-- Die Fledermaus (shadow@alliance.org), February 01, 2000.

A cracker!! Why, that's a racist statement if I ever heard one!! Is this really Rocker?

-- Die Fledermaus (shadow@alliance.org), February 01, 2000.

ya duz mean "hacker", doncha missy Dee?

-- (goodoleboy@duelin.banjos), February 01, 2000.

Missy Dee knows what she is saying. A cracker is different from a hacker. Not exactly sure how. Someone enlighten us.

-- Kyle (fordtbonly@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

jargonlink

cracker /n./ One who breaks security on a system. Coined ca. 1985 by hackers in defense against journalistic misuse of hacker (q.v., sense 8). An earlier attempt to establish `worm' in this sense around 1981-- 82 on Usenet was largely a failure. -snip-

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

The hacker postings are probably not OT. I work in an environment that assumes subsevience on the part of the "client". It is interesting that government in the US made the 'Net available to the masses by enacting laws in the vehicle of WIA. When the field was leveled, talented players were allowed to perform. This IS part of Y2K. These hackers have the talent and the motivation to utilize the windows the old mode of thought believed would never be exploited.

On an earlier thread we had a comment regarding members of a culture assessing the behavior of the culture. This observation is most applicable here: by law, the playing field is leveled : "Let the games commence....." Y2k is more than a programmatic error. It is a new mode of interaction.

-- another government hack (keepwatching_2000@yahoo.com), February 01, 2000.

Keep watching,

Interesting comments.

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

Dee, what does a hacker do in contrast? You don't have to answer. I know I am lazy and don't deserve a response.

-- Kyle (fordtbonly@aol.com), February 01, 2000.

Kyle, (This is from the same link I posted above)

hacker /n./ [originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe] 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in `a Unix hacker'. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. [deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence `password hacker', `network hacker'. The correct term for this sense is cracker. The term `hacker' also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see network, the and Internet address). It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic (see hacker ethic). -snip-

Hope this helps Kyle. It appears that it was a matter of "political correctness" on the part of the writer. =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 01, 2000.