It seems this group is of the younger crowd. A hacker is someone who sits at a computer and learns everything they can about the system. No illegal intent. This is the way most people learn linux. A Cracker is the person who learns about the system so that they can break into other computers/remove security features/etc... Somewhere in history, the media used the wrong word for describing a security breach, ie: Kevin Mitnick, Captain Crunch, Steve Wosniak and Jobs (yes, they are crackers, if enough people send an im to me about it, i'll start a "History of the Steve's" thread Everybody knows, once the media gets a hold of it, it's the "truth" Now start sending those IM's