XPost: alt.2600   
   From: ec1828@somewhere.edu   
      
                       The Myth of the Computer Hacker   
                                 Reid Skibell   
                                New York, USA   
            Information, Communication & Society 5:3 2002 336–356   
      
   (*) Abstract   
      
   The seriousness of computer hacking is not exaggerated, it is far worse   
   than that.  The computer hacker has attained the status of myth; society   
   associates all computer crime with a mythical perpetrator that bears no   
   resemblance to reality.  This paper will argue that in the early stages   
   of the myth the computer hacker was regarded as a highly skilled but   
   mentally disturbed youth who has an unhealthy association with   
   computers. The new reality of electronic commerce resulted in pressures   
   that culminated in the computer hacker becoming regarded as a dangerous   
   criminal. A thorough analysis of the statistics will demonstrate that   
   the majority of computer intruders are neither dangerous nor highly   
   skilled, and thus nothing like the mythical hacker.   
      
   Full paper:   
   http://130.18.86.27/faculty/warkentin/securitypapers/Merrill/Ski   
   ell2002_C&S5_3_HackerMyth.pdf   
      
   (*) My reading   
      
   There are typos in the paper, which would have been easily caught by a   
   spell checker.  Some typos are difficult to understand.  For instance,   
   it seems that ``soldier'' has been written at various places as   
   ``solider.''  Same typo over and over?  It is written properly in at   
   least one place.   
      
   The author seems to use the name ``hacker'' without any mention to   
   computer specialists in the original sense of the word.  No mention of   
   Steven Levy's ``Hackers'' from 1984.   
      
   Considering the length of the paper, it is not quite worth it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)