Re: How to catch a cracker in the US?

On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:46:06 -0400, William Herrin said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but by the time "hacker" emerged as a word distinct from "hack" it already carried implications of mischief and disregard for the rules in addition to the original implication of creatively solving a technical challenge. Is that mistaken?

To the contrary - there was a period of time when "hacker" included those who were responsible for creative hacks that followed the rules *as they actually were*, not as they were generally believed to be. "It had the virtue of never having been tried before". James T Kirk was (will be?e?) an old-school hacker of epic level. (Contemplate for a bit why Kirk wasn't bounced out on his butt from the Academy)