Opinion
 

Letters to the Editor


Misunderstood hacking

To the editor:

In Richard Lutz's column "Web vigilantes walking a thin moral wire," (Opinion, Tuesday) the writer mistakenly made certain assumptions, one of which was assigning the title of "hacker" to a person who electronically attacks a Web site. Actually, in Information Technology, a hacker is someone who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems. Note that I doesn't include computer systems, for the first true hackers were tampering with telephone systems. 

The term hacker is a respectful title Lutz seems to have confused with the title "cracker." A cracker is one who works to break security programs on systems. A hacker works to understand and in many cases perfect a system. A cracker simply "cracks system security." In other words, a cracker breaks an essential component of a system. 

I do believe to some extent that Lutz tried to educate the reader with his column. However, he should have taken a bit more time to educate himself before making use of very specific terminology with such blatant disregard. He also made reference to the MyDoom worm, which he mistakenly referred to as a virus.

MyDoom is considered a worm because of its ability to propagate itself over a network. A computer virus, on the other hand, is simply a program that replicates itself. 

Adriana Menocal,
psychology junior
 

Letters to the editor are welcome from all members of the UH community and should focus on issues, not personalities. Letters must be typed and must include the author's name, telephone number and affiliation with the University. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, language and space. Letters may be delivered in person to Room 151, Communication; e-mailed to dclettrs@mail.uh.edu ; or faxed to (713) 743-5384.Send comments to dccampus@mail.uh.edu