k hacker to the pirate who can be at the same level as a novice computer user. The prevalence of the problem has been dramatized by the media and enforcement agents, and evidenced by the rise of specialized private security firms to confront the "hackers." The average person's knowledge about the CU has been derived mostly from the media. The media gets their information from former CU individuals who have been caught, from law enforcement agents, and from computer security specialists. The computer underground, as it is called by those who participate in it, is composed of people adhering to one or several roles: "hacker," "phreaker," "pirate," "cracker," and computer virus developer. Terms such as these have different meanings for those who have written about the computer underground, such as the media, and those who participate in it. The media's concept of the Computer Underground is the main cause of the criminalization of the activity and has largely occurred as the result of media dramatization of the "problem" (Hollinger and Lanza-Kaduce, 1988). In fact, it was a collection of newspaper and film clips that was presented to the United States Congress during legislative debates as evidence of the computer hacking problem (Hollinger and Lanza-Kaduce, 1988, p.107). Unfortunately, the media assessment of the computer underground displays a naive understanding of CU activity. The media generally makes little distinction between different types of CU activity. Most any computer- related crime activity can be attributed to "hackers." Everything from embezzlement to computer viruses have, at one time or another, been attributed to them. Additionally, hackers are often described as being sociopathic or malicious, creating a media image of the computer underground that may exaggerate their ability for doing damage. The labeling of the CU and especially hackers as being "evil" is well illustrated by these media examples. The first is from ...