The Computer Underground.

    The beginning of the electronic communication revolution 
that started with the public use of telephones to the emergence 
of home computers has been accompanied by corresponding social 
problems involving the activities of so-called "computer 
hackers," or better referred to as the computer underground (CU). 
The CU is composed of computer aficionados who stay on the 
fringes of legality. The CU is composed of relatively intelligent 
people, in contrast to the media's description of the ultra
intelligent and sophisticated teenage "hacker." The majority have 
in common the belief that information should be free and that 
they have "a right to know." They often have some amount of 
dislike for the government and the industries who try to 
control and commercialize information of any sort. This paper 
attempts to expose what the CU truly is and dispel some of the 
myths propagated by the media and other organizations. This paper 
also tries to show the processes and reasons behind the 
criminalization of the CU and how the CU is viewed by different 
organizations, as well as some of the processes by which it came 
into being. What the CU is has been addressed by the media, 
criminologists, secuity firms, and the CU themselves, they all 
have a different understanding or levels of comprehention, this 
paper attempts to show the differences between the views as well 
as attempt to correct misunderstandings that may have been 
propagated by misinformed sources. The differences between the 
parties   of the CU such as, "hackers," "crackers," "phreaks," 
"pirates," and virus writers have rarely been recognized and some 
deny that there are differences thus this paper attempts to give 
a somewhat clearer view and define exactly what each party is 
and does as well as how they relate to one another.