We don’t distinguish among “hacking” behaviors now — everything that’s done in any way to harm, compromise, gain unauthorized…

“We don’t distinguish among “hacking” behaviors now — everything that’s done in any way to harm, compromise, gain unauthorized access to, probe, or monitor without knowledge is considered a hack or hacking. And media outlets obligingly stretch the definition as wide as possible for short headlines and shallow stories. We don’t ask about function, motive, provenance, authority, or any other detail. Hacking is coding is doxing is theft is an intelligence operation is a malware insertion is a leak is a practical workaround. File it all over there, in the menacing box with the skull and crossbones on it.”

–Scott Smith, ‘In 2015, we’ll need different words to talk about the future’ (2014)