Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!fluke!kurt
From: kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Why "worm" instead of "germ"
Keywords: virus vs. worm
Message-ID: <14005@fluke.COM>
Date: 17 Jan 90 20:29:39 GMT
References: <1476@umigw.MIAMI.EDU> <76929@looking.on.ca> <77443@looking.on.ca>
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The term "worm" probably stems from a John Brunner story called Shockwave
Rider, published in 1975 (long before such programs were common) that
described such programs as "tapeworms" because they were parasitic,
infectious, loathsome, and wriggled through the wires from host to host.
The details of the tapeworm program in Shockwave Rider are consistent with
the behavior of the Morris worm.