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meanings. One is generally positive, implying technical ability. The other is negative, implying improper behavior. Many self-described hackers prefer to call those who engage in wrongful behavior as “crackers.” But since that term is little used outside of hacking circles, this book adopts the word hacker in its broadest sense, without intending to give it moral weight one way or the other.)

Like New York nightclubs, IRC channels would rise and fall quickly in the esteem of others. Once too many people joined, the hip crowd moved on and started something new. W00w00 had been founded by a baby-faced high-schooler from Utah named Matt Conover, an impressive young hacker whose nickname in the channel was Shok. Shok had gained some notoriety for releasing detailed “exploits”—code that could be used for attacks—which is something that’s extremely controversial in the computer world. Many big software companies say the practice is destructive and should be criminalized. Some security experts, however, argue that the threat of the release of such code is the only thing that forces companies to admit they have a problem and fix it. At present, some groups are attempting to form a compromise standard, such as a four-week warning before an exploit’s release.

Shok’s work is available on hacking sites today, including a “war-dialer” that bombards Unix computer systems looking for open modem lines, a key hacker technique. Another is a program to fake an IP address, a computer’s location on the Internet. Shawn’s nickname in the group was Napster, which he had picked up on the basketball court for the short, nappy hair he sported before shaving it off. Another mainstay was Dugsong, who was in reality a University of Michigan student named Dug Song. “The whole point of w00w00 was to have an environment that was open to all,” Song said. “People could talk about the computer universe from both sides. I’m a ‘white hat.’ I’d never actually done anything criminal. But there are definitely people interested in other things.” He paused, searching for the right phrase: “Applied uses of the technology.”

W00w00 drew from several other groups, including a black-hat outfit based in France called ADM, an acronym for Association de Malfaiteurs, or “association of evildoers.” Another affiliate was el8.org, run by Evan Brewer. The name was a play on “elite,” slang for sophisticated hacking experts. Brewer was a little darker than average on w00w00, and at one

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