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Comment by retrocryptid | Hacker News Reader

Just learned "keygen" is the term the script-kiddies use to describe the act of generating fake activation keys. Never let it be said HN is not educational. But I feel the same way I felt when I noticed idiots using "crypto" to refer to cryptocurrency instead of cryptography.

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Keygen has been around for for at least 30 years, whereas people misusing the term “crypto” has only been around for five years or so.

Greetings! I am here to derail the thread with a remark about "organic chemistry" versus "organic foods".

Sometimes being there first doesn't mean you get to use the simplification forever. Cryptography is an older thing than cryptocurrency, but both are unwieldy to pronounce and have been simplified to "crypto". Since cryptography is math and cryptocurrencies (in the "popular" sphere) is a get rich quick scheme, the abbreviation that works for both generally became applied to the latter.

I am sure organic chemists are a little weirded out when people tell them "oh yeah I love those new strawberries we got". This is that.

"Crypto" has been around for much longer than 5 years. I remember someone using it in reference to a Motorola DES chip in the late 70s. And the IACR Crypto conference has been going on since the early 80s.

Why is it a misuse to use "crypto" to refer to a currency whose design relies on secrets, but it's fine to use "crypto" to refer to keeping communications private using some secret information?

I do crypto the airport (opening the barriers with my passport, where the computer in my passport signs a challenge encrypted with its pubkey) and do crypto with my phone (making a call, which is encrypted with Ericsson SNOW), and do crypto at the corner shop (using my card, same as the passport).

If airports, phones, and corner shops claimed they 'work in crypto' it would be similarly misleading.

Even Toly refers to himself as a distributed systems engineer, because building a blockchain involves more DS work than crypto work.

FWIW I work in web3/defi, used to work in PKI.

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