Polish version of this entry has originally been published by Oko Press.
Excessive use by the media of words “hacker”, “hacking”, “hack”, and the like, whenever a story concerns information security, online break-ins, leaks, and cyberattacks is problematic:
- Makes it hard to inform the public accurately about causes of a given event, and thus makes it all but impossible to have an informed debate about it.
- Demonizes a creative community of tinkerers, artists, IT researchers, and information security experts.
Uninformed public debate
The first problem is laid bare by the recent compromise of a private e-mail account belonging to Michał Dworczyk, Polish PM’s top aide.