Re:Journalists need to learn what a 'hacker' really is
by fleitz on Sunday December 12, 2010 @01:18AM
(#1996621)
Agreed. A solution requires one of two things to happen: every hacker to start using a new term, or every hacker to 'reclaim' the term.
Reclamation is out for two reasons, one, we have a really poor narrative, and two, try organizing hackers.
Using a new term is out because technically we're right and in the hacker mindset logos trumps all other forms of rhetoric, and two, try organizing hackers.
In all seriousness, however, this is something the geek/hacker community has been harping on for decades, and something that nobody else gives a rat's ass about. The MSM will continue to call people who use LOIC or exploit password reset features "hackers", because 99.9% of their audience won't know the difference.
If they ask you directly, correct them. Otherwise, just let them do their thing. There's absolutely nothing to gain by insisting that ignorant people use the correct terminology.