Am I a hacker? (idea)

The first problems you mention are obviously blatant design flaws, security through obscurity and all that. The insecurity of cookies is a well-known fact. That's why there is an option in most browsers that allows you to disable cookies.

But that is all quite irrelevant, since you are asking wether you are a hacker or not. First of all, it is pure idiocy to ask such a question . Does it really matter what "title" you have? I have been dubbed a lot of titles over the years; everything from "guru" to "dickhead". And I don't care. I am just tribbel, the adequate computer user and part-time human being.

Secondly, the term "hacker" is a very loose one. There are about as many definitions of the word as there are "hackers". One says a hacker is a malicious security expert, the other says a hacker is a programmer. Yet another claims that a hacker is a bad writer. All and all, the title no longer holds any value whatsoever.

Here are few definitions of the word `hacker', from various sources, for your reading pleasure:

1. Someone who plays golf poorly.
2. A programmer for whom computing is its own reward; may enjoy the challenge of breaking into other computers.
3. One who works hard at boring tasks.
4. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities.
5. One who programs enthusiastically.
6. A person capable of appreciation hack value.
7. A person who is good at programming quickly.
8. An expert at a particular program.
9. An expert or enthusiast of any kind.
10. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
11. A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around.
12. A programmer who does not understand proper programming techniques and principles.
13. Someone who makes furniture with an axe.
14. One who, or that which, hacks.
15. A player of the nethack game.
16. A person who uses the Internet under a false name.

And finally, this is the part I hate about "geeks", "nerds", or whatever you want to call them; they claim that they have outevolved the craving for social status. They keep whining about the `jocks' and `cheerleaders' who bugged them in high school, but at the same tim e they long for such idiotic titles as "hacker".

Sir.Cracked, I agree with you; sensitivity is natural. But saying one thing ("I hate those who are obsessed with social status"), and then doing another thing is ("I am a hacker! Honour me!"^*), in my world, annoying, if not unacceptable.

^* mildly exaggerated, but you get the point.