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. .
