A Cracker is a Hacker?

There is a misunderstanding between the both words hacker and cracker. Lots of people think, that the word cracker is similiar with the word hacker.  Fact is, that the word "hacker" is been used in lots of different and especially in superficial meanings.

In the worldwide society of the community called "The Scene"  (see page before) a cracker is somebody removing copy protections from software (to crack the protection). This name "cracker" has been found in the early 80s.

Later, somewhen after 1992 until today, lots of small hacking groups have created a new cult and they believe in "hacker ethics". Those groups say, that a cracker is a bad hacker and has nothing to to with "cracking copy protections". Thatīs why many members from the "Scene"  donīt accept this definition at all.

Read more about the cracker and its history from other sources:

www.scenet.de/faq.htm

and lastly from the german book
Hackerland.