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The Rise and Stall of the Generative Net
custody of trained administrators, such machines could be commandeered and
reprogrammed, and, if done skillfully, their users would probably not even notice.
The opportunity for such quick reprogramming vastly expanded as these
workstations were connected to the Internet and acquired the capacity to receive
code from afar.
Networked computers able to retrieve and install code from anyone else on
the network are much more flexible and powerful than their appliancized
counterparts would be. But this flexibility and power are not without risks.
Whether through a sneaky vector like the one Morris used, or through the front
door, when a trusting user elects to install something that looks interesting but
without fully inspecting it and understanding what it does, opportunities for
accidents and mischief abound. Today’s generative PCs are in a similar but
more pronounced bind, one characterized by faster networks, more powerful
processors, and less-skilled users.
A MILD AUTOIMMUNE REACTION
The no-longer-theoretical prospect that a large swath of Internet-connected
computers could be compromised, and then contribute to the attack of others,
created a stir. But to most, the Morris attack remained more a curiosity than a
call to arms. Keith Bostic of the University of California–Berkeley computer
science department described in a retrospective news account the fun of trying
to puzzle out the problem and defeat the worm. “For us it was a challenge. ...
It wasn’t a big deal.” 10
Others perceived the worm as a big deal but did little to fix the problem. The
mainstream media had an intense but brief fascination with the incident. 11 A
professional organization for computer scientists, the Association for Computing
Machinery, devoted an issue of its distinguished monthly journal to the
worm, 12 and members of Congress requested a report from its research arm,
the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). 13
The GAO report noted some ambiguities and difficulties in U.S. law that
might make prosecution of worm- and virus-makers burdensome, 14 and called
for the creation of a government committee to further consider Internet security,
staffed by representatives of the National Science Foundation, the Department
of Defense, and other agencies that had helped fund the Internet’s development
and operation. 15 At the time it was thought that the Internet would
evolve into a “National Research Network,” much larger and faster, but still
used primarily by educational and other noncommercial entities in loose coor-