I don't mean 'crackers' as a slang term for white people, either.
"The pejorative sense of hacker is becoming more prominent largely because the popular press has co-opted the term to refer to individuals who gain unauthorised access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing and corrupting data. Hackers, themselves, maintain that the proper term for such individuals is cracker."
Crackers are
criminal hackers, those who steal/corrupt/destroy data in an malicious effort to defraud or hurt. They're responsible for things like Credit Card number thefts from Mastercard and banking theft fiascos. These are the "bad" side of computer users, using their knowledge of the intricacies of computers to cause harm.
Hackers, on the other hand, is a computer programmer (not a mere user) of breathtaking technical and creative proficiency. It is a person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. Also, one who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. These are the type of people who enjoy LEGO Mindstorms, who created emulators to play Super Nintendo games on a computer, or create homebrewed games for the Playstation Portable. They're the kind of people who discover security holes in a software schema and notify the company (or CERT) of the problem so it can be fixed before a CRACKER comes in and destroys valuable information.
Posted as General Information, hopefully to enlighten all that there are still good "hackers" out there.
EDIT: Odd that it ended up in Newbies, but .. ahh well..
