[From ibm.net's Antivirus Online: an article by Bruce Sterling,
well-known science fiction author
]
Sterling vs. Virus Writers
I have been asked by the good folks at antivirus online to write a bit
about my deep and visceral dislike of computer viruses. I can scarcely
restrain my indignation within the narrow compass of a mere thousand
words. But it's a worthy cause. Let's give it a try.
I once wrote a nonfiction book called Hacker Crackdown, a work of (some
say) pronounced hacker-sympathetic tendencies. I still have those - to
an extent.  For instance, I rarely panic or scream for air-strikes when
I hear that some misguided teenage male has intruded into a computer
system. I also have somewhat unorthodox ideas about so-called
"intellectual property."
So I'm a civil-lib, freeware, hack-sympathizer. I confess it. But I
draw the line at virus people.
People who write viruses
It's not that their depredations scare me. I've never been much
impressed by the supposed tremendous hazards of computer viruses. A lot
of both virus and anti-virus rhetoric is seriously overblown. Virus
hype makes computers seem far more dangerous and intimidating than
computers actually are. Virus hype helps to keep the computer-
illiterate intimidated and in their place.
Spreading and maintaining the fear of viruses is an evil business at
heart.  It's bully's work. It's meant to make people flinch from the
opportunity in computers, instead of reaching out to grasp it. Virus
people take wicked pleasure in this. They enjoy panicking future-
shocked grannies and other gullible straight people with their
dreadful, mysterious, elite, ninja weapons of digital destruction. The
intimidation factor is a major part of the kick for them.
If virus people actually had mysterious ninja weapons of digital
destruction, they might be a lot more interesting (in a sickening way).
But virus people are dull and banal. If they really had much to offer,
they wouldn't be writing viruses in the first place.
I'm no programmer, but I do know some people who are pretty heavy-duty
programmers and computer scientists. I never knew any of them to claim
that virus writing required world-class programming skills. Obviously,
the hassle that viruses create can become a serious hassle. But
technically speaking, virus programming isn't much to brag about.
Making viruses can't require creative genius. That's very obvious just
from looking at them. Viruses have goofy names, and the guys who write
them have goofy handles. What's more, the things they say to their
victims are almost always really dumb and puerile.
Sometimes, one hears the darkside-hacker theory that viruses are
important weapons of digital guerrilla war. They allow the daring
individual to harm the oppressive interests of large organizations. In
my opinion, this is an evil lie. The precise opposite is true.
Viruses play strongly to the interests of large, structured, uptight
organizations that employ full-time busybody computer security staff.
The classic virus victim is a carefree, free-thinking individual. He's
some good hearted, naive, birkenstock-wearing soul who is cheerfully
swappin' floppies with his pals and downloading freeware. He just
scratches his shaggy head when odd pop-up boxes appear on his screen.
When his programs crash without warning, he figures maybe the cat ate
'em.
A virus is a malignant itch to the silk-suit guys at Three Initial
Corporation.  But the poor dweeb at the small or home-office will keep
plugging away at his failing clone-box until his hard disk and his
backups are totally corrupted.  Very likely he'll never even guess what
hit him. Viruses work against individuals. Especially the trusting, the
generous, and the innocent.
Most people who fool with viruses aren't even programmers. They're
antisocial moron kids. They just snag virus code from some fellow idiot
and tweak a few lines -- commonly putting in their own verbal payload.
They do this so that the virus will boast about them -- rather than
boasting about the depraved individual who composed the wretched thing
in the first place. Then they spread it and hold their breath to hear
what happens next. I doubt that these guys ever learn much.
When I really stretch my imagination, I can see some reasons to make
and spread viruses. Imagine, for instance, being a Bulgarian virus
writer. There you are, exquisitely educated in higher math by swarms of
boring Marxist professors.  After all that suffering, you can't even
get a real job. Guys of this ilk can become bitter souls. Since they
can't lounge at the digital poolside in Silicon Valley, they are
tempted to throw a dead cat in the water. Obviously this is a mean and
wicked thing to do, but it makes a certain psychological sense.
But it only makes sense as neurosis. It makes no practical sense.
Writing and spreading viruses scarcely even begins to hurt the truly
privileged people.  Viruses are evil Robin Hoods that curb-stomp the
poor while scarcely bothering the rich. Poor places have serious virus
depredation -- not rich places. The real suffering strikes places like
Left Elbow, Kazakhstan, where people are running ancient 8088s chockful
of swapped pirateware. These people have got the technical talent,
they've even kind of got the machines, and they've got hope for a
better life, but their civil society is so screwed up that they're
helplessly mired in corruption.  They're afflicted by swarms of
virus-breeding metalheads. Guys who've got nothing better to do with
their lives than to invent ever more elaborate methods of spitting in
the soup.
The thing that truly disgusts me about virus writers is their weirdly
gratuitous meanness. Virus writers derive so little benefit to
themselves from the harm they do to others. Cyberspace is full of
crooks and lowlifes-just like real life is. Spammers are on the make.
Flamers are nuts and bullies. Credit card thieves steal stuff. Kid-porn
people are sick. But virus people are special even in this sordid
company. They are in love with doing harm for its own sake. They poison
the digital wells and the flowing rivers. They believe that information
ought to be poisonous and should hurt other people. Internet people
build the networks for the sake of the net, and that's a fine and noble
thing. But virus people vandalize computers and nets for the pure nasty
love of the wreckage.
When you realize that there are people like this, and that they are
bound and determined never to go away, it makes you feel very sad about
the human race.
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