The term 's lack of popularity m ight be due to its confusing etym ology— cracker originally described those who crack software copyrights and reverse engineer copy-protection schem es. I ts current unpopularity m ight sim ply result from its two am biguous new definitions: a group of people who engage in illegal activity with com puters or people who are relatively unskilled hackers. Few technology journalists feel com pelled to use term s that m ost of their readers are unfam iliar with. I n contrast, m ost people are aware of the m ystery and skill associated with the term hacker, so for a journalist, the decision to use the term hacker is easy. Sim ilarly, the term script kiddie is som etim es used to refer to crackers, but it just doesn't have the sam e zing as the shadowy hacker. There are som e who will still argue that there is a distinct line between hackers and crackers, but I believe that anyone who has the hacker spirit is a hacker, despite any laws he or she m ay break.