Hacker News Reader

Comment by nikcub | Hacker News Reader

the word 'hacker' has been diluted to a new low

first to 'somebody who can write a web app', to now 'somebody who can install software'

Reading comprehension fail. Just because the title asserts that the poster is a hacker doesn't mean that the post justifies why he is one. If I write something about "Why you don't steal from a Texan" I'm going to talk about you digging lead out of your derriere, not about where I was born.

In fact, he's updated his post to reflect this kind of comment:

"Updated: to quell the comments, I did not choose the title to imply downloading tracking software is hacking, I am a hacker by profession and have been all my life."

If the title was "You don't steal from a hacker," you might have a point, but "Why you don't steal from a hacker" implies the reason for that is exposed in the post.

A story entitled: "Why you don't steel from a Texan" would generally entail the thief getting shot. Shooting a thief doesn't make one a Texan, but it is the kind of thing a Texan would do. (Gross generalization for illustrative purposes only.) In the same way, having a software program installed on one's computer in case of theft does not make one a hacker, but it is in the spectrum of things a hacker might do. So I think that the title is plenty accurate.

That said, the title does prime one for an epic tail of recovery and revenge involving spoofed IP addresses and total identity theft. This story is a little bit of a letdown, but I doubt he meant for it to get the attention it got.

Yeah, if you dig through his blog, he has some really cool model train stuff.

hilarious!

MIT hackers back in the day had quite a lot of crossover with model train enthusiasts.

From his LinkedIn profile: "Greg Martin is a recognized Information Security professional with over 12 years experience and considered an industry expert in Network Security and SIEM technology." Sounds like the word hacker could very well apply. I think he used it in relationship to his profession, not to his installation skills.

I've read some really great stories in which real hackers used SSH to log in to their stolen computers, install key loggers, and custom tools. This obviously isn't one of those stories though.

I think it is great that the average person can now do all those things from a web app. It is funny though that they still consider themselves to be hackers because they can use that web app. Another example of misuse of the term hack that I see all the time is when people use someone else's logged in Facebook session and then claim they "hacked their Facebook" because that person left their session logged in. Silly...

Is this one of the example you are looking for? http://gizmodo.com/5717309/what-happens-when-you-steal-a-hac... (talk from Def Con '11)

The thief did more "hacking" by using the OSX install CD than him.

Semantics is one of the least interesting things to argue about on the Internet.

No it isn't! /python

;0)>

Sorry couldn't resist.

...says a guy who submits non-hacker news to Hacker News. =)

Next would be "Somebody who can use a computer"

Reply on news.ycombinator.com