1.12.5 电脑黑客

W: Hey, Mike. You've been surfing the Net for quite a while. What on earth are you searching for?

M: It's something relative hackers. I often hear people talking about them, but I don't know much about them.

W: Well, roughly speaking, a hacker is a computer buff.

M: You mean a guy using enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the computer?

W: You can say that.

M: But why are people always having such a negative attitude towards them?

W: They must have mixed hackers with crackers.

M: What is crackers then?

W: There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but they aren't. They break into computers and break the phone system. Real hackers call these people "crackers", and want nothing to do with them.

M: So they are two totally different concepts.

W: Well, the real hackers mostly think crackers are lazy, irresponsible and not very bright, and feel that being able to break security does make you a hacker any more than being able to start cars without keys makes you an automotive engineer. Unfortunately, many journalists and writers have been fooled into using the word "hacker" to describe crackers. This irritates real hackers to no end.

M: I see. Then the basic different is: hackers build things, crackers break them.

W: You got it.

M: Thanks a lot.

W: You are welcome.