RaydrPremium,MVM
join:2000-11-19
Carrollton, TX | My email to the reporter Regarding your article: "Waterford men hacked store files, FBI alleges"
You wrote: "They may have been engaged in the recent hacker craze known as "wardriving" -- cruising around with a specially equipped laptop and an antenna searching for unsecured wireless networks hooked to the Internet."
I found this line extremely offensive, and others will as well.
Wardriving is not hacking, cracking, or gaining illegal access to a network without authorization.
A simple google search of "what is wardriving?" will yield many useful descriptions of Wardriving, such as:
»www.mobilelifestyles.net/additio···tion.htm
Unfortunately, there are still many websites and people who associate wardriving with attempting to gain access to a network. This is not the case, and the old definition is left over from the countless reporters (such as yourself) who inform users that "wardriving" is a "hacker" activity. Wardriving is legal and protected the same way that radar detectors are.
Wardriving is the same thing as driving around your town with your radio set to "scan".
Wardriving is the same thing as driving down a street and noting the color/size of each house.
Wardriving is harmless and in many cases very useful.
The CRIMINALS mentioned in your story deserve to go to jail, as what they did is illegal.
I hope for a correction or slight modification to the story; I do not wish to get pulled over for a minor traffic infraction, and end up arrested just because the police have read information that leads them to believe laptop+GPS+antenna = hacking into companies.
Thank you.
------
Marcus R. Matos - Matos Consulting (www.matosconsulting.com)
Gainesville Office: 352/336-4805 | Ocala Mobile: 352/342-0100 |
|
|
|
| The definition of wardriving is what people think it is, not what any web site defines it as. At risk of using a cliche, it's the whole "perception is reality" thing.
It's the same as people using the word "peruse" to mean "leaf through". People have misused it so much that the dictionary added a second definition. So the first definition is "to examine or consider with attention and in detail" -- and the second one is to "look over or through in a casual or cursory manner". These 2 definitions are complete opposites, much like people's perception of wardriving and the true definition.
I also found it interesting that you tagged the reporter for (mis)using the word wardriving, when you (mis)used the word "hacking" in the same way that he (mis)used the word wardriving. The first definition of hacking is to write computer programs for enjoyment, the second is to gain access to a computer illegally.
Finally, it's hard for those not familiar with technology to not place a negative connotation on wardriving, simply because of its name. Warpath, warlord, warhead, warfare, warhorse, wargame. To the technically ignorant (such as myself), wardriving contains the word war -- it just sounds bad.
Not trying to stir anything up. I just think you overreacted to a stupid reporter. Some things will always be misunderstood, even if we try to educate.
--
Hey - there's this thing called spell check... |
|
bmn? ? ?Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus | said by TheMadSwede:
The first definition of hacking is to write computer programs for enjoyment, the second is to gain access to a computer illegally.
Which dictionary did you use? The term hacking has never been associated with illegal entry by people who ACTUALLY know what it means and if the dictionary is associating hacking with illegal entry of systems, they are in error. The proper term has always been cracking.
--
Male by birth... Geek by choice. -- Man... Earth's most foolish child. |
|
| said by bmn:
said by TheMadSwede:
The first definition of hacking is to write computer programs for enjoyment, the second is to gain access to a computer illegally.
Which dictionary did you use? The term hacking has never been associated with illegal entry by people who ACTUALLY know what it means and if the dictionary is associating hacking with illegal entry of systems, they are in error. The proper term has always been cracking.
Actually it has. If you go to Dictionary.com they list hacking as:
hack ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hk)
v. hacked, hack·ing, hacks
v. tr.
To cut or chop with repeated and irregular blows: hacked down the saplings.
To break up the surface of (soil).
Informal. To alter (a computer program): hacked her text editor to read HTML.
To gain access to (a computer file or network) illegally or without authorization: hacked the firm's personnel database.
Slang. To cut or mutilate as if by hacking: hacked millions off the budget.
Slang. To cope with successfully; manage: couldn't hack a second job.
I'm not defending anyone's position, but merely pointing out that it does indeed associate hacking with illegal entry (whether it should or not).
--
Stare into the light, dance along the ledge. Feel the wicked blade, Kiss the razor's edge. |
|
| reply to bmn
said by bmn:
Which dictionary did you use? The term hacking has never been associated with illegal entry by people who ACTUALLY know what it means and if the dictionary is associating hacking with illegal entry of systems, they are in error. The proper term has always been cracking.
From Dictionary.com:
»dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hacking
quote:
hack1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hk)
v. intr.
1. To chop or cut something by hacking.
2. Informal.
a. To write or refine computer programs skillfully.
b. To use one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access to a file or network: hacked into the company's intranet.
3. To cough roughly or harshly.
Sure, technical folks might remember when a hacker was just definition 2a, but the majority of people who use the english language see it as 2b. That makes it one of the definitions of a hacker.
--
-Jason Levine
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/
http://www.PCQandA.com/
http://www.urateit.com/ |
|
| said by Jason Levine:
said by bmn:
Which dictionary did you use? The term hacking has never been associated with illegal entry by people who ACTUALLY know what it means and if the dictionary is associating hacking with illegal entry of systems, they are in error. The proper term has always been cracking.
From Dictionary.com:
»dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hacking
quote:
hack1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (hk)
v. intr.
1. To chop or cut something by hacking.
2. Informal.
a. To write or refine computer programs skillfully.
b. To use one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access to a file or network: hacked into the company's intranet.
3. To cough roughly or harshly.
Sure, technical folks might remember when a hacker was just definition 2a, but the majority of people who use the english language see it as 2b. That makes it one of the definitions of a hacker.
Which is what just may be happening with the definition of the term "wardriving".
--
Hey - there's this thing called spell check... |
|
| reply to Raydr
I followed Raydr's initiative by writing to the reporter about how he was mixing "hacker" with "wardriving". This is his response:
"I called this a variation of Wardriving. And that's what it is.
In future articles -- so I don't have a horde of computer geeks swarming outside the Fee Press demanding to burn me at the stake I may say "wireless hacking."
Thanks for the feedback. Dave"
I report... you decide... |
|
BeeperPart Of The Problem
join:2001-09-27
Dayton, OH | reply to bmn
said by bmn:
The proper term has always been cracking.
Tis true, but negligent misusage of the term "hacking" by media and the public have rendered the distinction between hacking and cracking irrelevant.
--
Guaranteed Fear and Loathing. Abandon all hope. Prepare for the Weirdness. Get familiar with Cannibalism. |
|
davePremium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
kudos:7 Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Raydr
I think that people who can't use the language correctly are idiots, but nevertheless, a word means precisely what the majority of people say it means.
I don't see why "hacker" should be treated any differently than words like "nice" (what most people probably think of as the meaning is listed only as #6 in my dictionary), "sophisticated" (nowadays, is usually used in an approving way) and so forth.
dave - a nice unsophistcated hacker. |
|
