Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Do We Need a New Word For Hacking?
goombah99 writes: Hacking and Hackers get a bum rap. Headline scream "Every Nitendo switch can be hacked." But that's good right? Just like farmers hacking their tractors or someone re-purposing a talking teddy bear. On the other hand, remote hacking a Intel processor backdoor or looting medical data base, that are also described as hacking, are ill-motivated. It seems like we need words with different connotations for hacking. One for things you should definitely do, like program an Arduino or teddy bear. One for things that are pernicious. And finally one for things that are disputably good/bad such as hacking DRM protected appliances you own. What viral sounds terms and their nuances would you suggest? Editor's note: We suggest reading this New Yorker piece "A Short History of 'Hack'", and watching this Defcon talk by veteran journalist Steven Levy on the creativeness and chutzpah of the early hackers.
Pigjizzlekor
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
What you're asking for is not a new word, but for the public to understand a nuance of something they don't frankly give a shit about. A new word is just as likely to be misunderstood/misused by I-can't-be-arsed-to-report-precisely journalists and bloggers, and far more likely to actually ADD confusion.
Face it: words like 'hack' 'drone' and 'troll' have vanished into the collective linguistics of the culture; we're no longer able to recover them and insist they still have the specificity of meaning they used to carry when used by insiders in the tech culture.
-Styopa
I suggest the absolutely, 100%, brand new, just thought of, totally original word: cracking.
There's already a word for it: cracking. The fact that Slashdot editors apparently aren't aware of this - well I was going to say it was disgraceful, but sadly it's what we all expect.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
A new world will NOT solve the problem. The media will just hijack it like they have in the past:
i.e.
* Piracy = practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea --> illegal copying of numbers
* Hacking = implementing a quick fix or investing systems for curiosity's sake --> digital breaking and entering
Not to mention word order, it's ok to prick your finger on YouTube and get a million hits, but don't finger your prick or you'll be banned.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
what about saying renting = landlord needs to fix it that there own cost. If john deer wants to clam that you are renting the software then they need to fix it for free.
What good did EVER result from inventing new words? Just think of all the politically correct bullshit circulating. You used to call people with dark skin something I can't even write here anymore. Then colored. Then it was Afro Americans. Then black. Then ... whatever, I don't keep up with the PC bullshit. And what exactly did it change for them? Zip, nada, zilch, not even nothing.
And now the racists use those "PC words" to make fun of the whole politically correctness and mock it. You think it would be any different if you invent something new for "hacking"? You think the media would suddenly start using the "polite" word for "good" hacking? What's "good" anyway? I'm pretty sure Nintendo thinks the whole Switch-hack is pretty bad.
If you want to vilify something, you will find a way. No matter how "correct" your wording is. If anything, it helps them pretend that they want to be "unbiased" while slandering.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Perhaps we can import a word used from another language as a way to have a ready made set of new words?
Sadly when I google for the translation of hacker in another language all I get back is Hacker!
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.