This reaction isn't suprising. A basic instinct is for people to be afraid of what they don't understand. The vast majority of the population doesn't understand computers, much less hackers. So the reaction is total fear.
This doesn't excuse the reaction. I generally feel that what makes humans human is the ability to react AGAINST our basic instincts!
Mellisa was just the "internet worm" for 1999. (I still wonder if I saw the author of the worm at last years Linux Expo. The name on the name tag was right, as was his apparent age.) It wasn't a big deal. But some people are still afraid of the dark.
For more info on the internet worm, read http://www.alw.nih.gov/Securi ty/FIRST/papers/virus/gao.txt
Afraid of the Dark? (Score:1)
This doesn't excuse the reaction. I generally feel that what makes humans human is the ability to react AGAINST our basic instincts!
Mellisa was just the "internet worm" for 1999. (I still wonder if I saw the author of the worm at last years Linux Expo. The name on the name tag was right, as was his apparent age.) It wasn't a big deal. But some people are still afraid of the dark.
For more info on the internet worm, read
http://www.alw.nih.gov/Securi ty/FIRST/papers/virus/gao.txt