The past year we've heard stories about hacking, from The News of the World scandal to the exploits of groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec. But the way the media uses the word 'hack' diverges sharply from the way it's used by actual hackers. On the Media Producer Alex Goldman explores the history of the word and how its meaning has shifted over time in a story that originally aired in September of 2011. 

Yesterday, OTM producer Chris Neary read this Wired.com article about a bill called The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a law that leaker Bradley Manning is charged with having violated numerous times. Since Chris had some questions about the story and I'm kind of a nerd about hacking stuff, we thought it might be useful to have our conversation about the CFAA on the blog. Please feel free to contribute in the comments below.

Last week we did a story about a work of art called The Transparency Grenade, a grenade-shaped sculpture that will collect wireless information and audio when "detonated" and then post all of that information to the internet. While the grenade is a one-of-a-kind object, creator Julian Oliver said he had plans to make an Android phone app that would emulate the functionality of the grenade. Oliver said in our interview that he would be surprised if technology like this didn't already exist. Well, it turns out it does. Enter the Pwn Plug.

As part of Facebook's initial public offering yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter that was included in Facebook's registration statement with the Security and Exchange Commission. Wired's Epicenter blog has an interesting breakdown of Zuckerberg's letter, but there was one section that stood out to us - Zuckerberg's pontifications on hackers and the term "hacker" itself.

Hackers frequently release insecure information to demonstrate the vulnerability of new technologies. It's a novel approach, but certainly not new. Bob talks to New Scientist's Paul Marks, who tells the story of Nevil Maskelyne, and magician and inventor who, in the interest of exposing the technology's insecurity, hacked Guglielmo Marconi's first demonstration of the wireless telegraph.

Quantic And His Combo Barbaro - Cancao Do Deserto

On our most recent episode, we spoke to Marcia Hofmann, senior attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, about an ages old law called The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The act, passed in 1986, was originally meant to prosecute criminal computer hacking, but in recent years it has expanded to cover everything from wiping information from your work hard drive to violating the terms of service agreements for sites like MySpace. Advocates have called for serious reforms for the law, and at least in the case of terms of service violations, it appears the Senate is listening.

Passed in 1986, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act was specifically meant to target hacking. But in recent years it's been used to prosecute a much wider swath of behavior, some of which has nothing to do with hacking. Marcia Hofmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation talks to Brooke about the perils of having such a vague law on the books.

This year we've heard stories about hacking, from The News of the World scandal to the exploits of groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec. But the way the media uses the word hack diverges sharply from the way it's used by actual hackers. On the Media Producer Alex Goldman explores the history of the word and how its meaning has shifted over time. 

This week has been hack week here at On The Media. We've written about the Paleolithic history of hacking: the jargon file and phone phreaking – but to round out the week, it’s time for some up-to-the-minute hacking news.

Internet technologist Bruce Schneier argues that there's been no epidemic of hacking in the last few months, only an epidemic of hacking coverage. The media have gone looking for a pattern, he says, in just the same way they do with shark attacks every summer and are distracting us from the real issues of cyber-security.