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Originally Posted by Redlemon
That reminds me of my local newspaper. There are frequently headlines that refer to someone being arrested on "porn" charges. Then you read the article, and discover that the case was about child pornography.
Porn: legal
Child porn: illegal
Hacking: good
Cracking: not good
But no one at the paper cares, or perhaps they see an advantage in obscuring the issue.
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But if "cracker" is a subcategory of "hacker", and "child porn" is a subcategory of "porn" then to say hacker and porn is accurate, and the context of the story, in the case of the porn, or the particlar usage, in the case of "hacker" should make it clear which meaning was intended. I don't see the problem.
Words evolve. When I hear the word "careen", even though I know the classic definition is "moving at a high rate of speed" and that to move in an unsafe or erratic fashion is "career", I understand that it is the second meaning that is intended, and not the first. Likewise "decimate" has come to be synonymous with "annihilate" rather than the literal meanion of "to destroy 1/10th". "Interface" is used as a verb. People "surveil" others and have separate "agendas". A "papparazzi" ran into Lindsay Lohan. The tv "media" sensationalize stories. Though all of these grate on my ears, I don't fault the people using these words this way for not knowing better, and I understand their intended meaning.