UNDERGROUND

disruptive Pentagon defence planning that it had complained to Prime Minister John Major. The White House put the matter more bluntly than the State Department: Stop your hackers or we will cut off European access to our satellite which provides trans-Atlantic data and voice telecommunications. Someone in Britain seemed to be listening, for less than twelve months later, authorities had arrested all three hackers.

Pad thought the allegations were rubbish. He had been inside a VAX machine at the weather centre for a couple of hours one night, but he had never touched a Cray there. He had certainly never done anything to slow the machine down. No cracking programs, no scanners, nothing which might account for the delay described in the report. Even if he had been responsible, he found it hard to believe the Western allies’ victory in the Gulf War was determined by one computer in Berkshire.

All of which gave him cause to wonder why the media was running this story now, after Wandii's acquittal but before he and Gandalf were sentenced. Sour grapes, perhaps?

For days, columnists, editorial and letter writers across Britain pontificated on the meaning of the Wandii's verdict and the validity of an addiction to hacking as a defence. Some urged computer owners to take responsibility for securing their own systems. Others called for tougher hacking laws. A few echoed the view of *The Times*, which declared in an editorial, 'a persistent car thief of [the hacker’s] age would almost certainly have received a custodial sentence. Both crimes suggest disre- spect for other people's property . . . the jurors may have failed to appreciate the seriousness of this kind of offence'.⁹

The debate flew forward, changing and growing, and expanding beyond Britain’s borders. In Hong Kong, the *South China Morning Post* asked, 'Is [this] case evidence of a new social phenomenon, with immature and susceptible minds being damaged through prolonged exposure to personal com- puters?’ The paper described public fear that Wandii’s case would result in ‘the green light for an army of computer-literate