Hacker vs Cracker

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Was reading rec.humor.funny and saw a joke which referred to a cracker
as hacker. I look up Webster for "hacker" and I see:

Main Entry: hack·er
Pronunciation: 'ha-k&r
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : one that hacks
2 : a person who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity
<a tennis hacker>
3 : an expert at programming and solving problems with a computer
4 : a person who illegally gains access to and sometimes tampers with
information in a computer system

I think usage 4 is far too well entrenched in practice for a few "hackers"
in the Jargon sense to admonish and correct zillions of people. 

Perhaps a more practical way out is to entirely give up on the word and
use a different word for usage 3 ?

	-Arun