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=Computer Hacking=

What is a computer hacker?
A computer hacker is a person that knows the ins and outs of computers so well that they are able to retrieve information off of other computers, change the functions of a computer, retrieve passwords, and really make a computer do anything they want. Hackers have been given a bad name by the media, as they are sometimes illegally retrieving information from other companies and so on. But these make up a very small percentage of the population. More are payed to retrieve or monitor computer activities for large companies. These jobs are not considered "hacking"but are more respectable because they are a form of security and do not involve illegal actvites.

History of the "Hacker"
Brian Harvey of University of California Berkley explains how the term "hacker" came to be. "The concept of hacking entered the computer culture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1960s. Popular opinion at MIT posited that there are two kinds of students, tools and hackers. A ``tool is someone who attends class regularly, is always to be found in the library when no class is meeting, and gets straight As. A ``hacker is the opposite: someone who never goes to class, who in fact sleeps all day, and who spends the night pursuing recreational activities rather than studying." [In 1986, the word ``hacker'' is generally used among MIT students to refer not to computer hackers but to building hackers, people who explore roofs and tunnels where they're not supposed to be.] A ``computer hacker,'' then, is someone who lives and breathes computers, who knows all about computers, who can get a computer to do anything. Equally important, though,was the hacker's attitude. Computer programming must be a //hobby//, something done for fun, not out of a sense of duty or for the money."

Interested in learning more about how hacking works? Check out[| hacker info]
=Computer Cracking=

What is computer cracking?
A cracker is someone who breaks into someone else's computer system, often on a network; bypasses passwords or licenses in computer programs; or in other ways intentionally breaches computer security. A cracker can be doing this for profit, maliciously, for some altruistic purpose or cause, or because the challenge is there. Some breaking-and-entering has been done ostensibly to point out weaknesses in a site's security system. The term "cracker" is not to be confused with "hacker". Hackers generally deplore cracking. However, as Eric Raymond, compiler of //The New Hacker's Dictionary// notes, some journalists ascribe break-ins to "hackers."