Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!VAX.FTP.COM!sam
From: sam@VAX.FTP.COM
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: misquoting . . . .
Message-ID: <8811081844.AA13028@vax.ftp.com>
Date: 8 Nov 88 18:44:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 28

>From: stev@vax.ftp.com
>>it is bad enough that articles misquote someone, i would like to think
>>that most of them dont know they are mucking it up, rather than not caring
>>or trying to twist things to prove their point.

>Although I agree with you in spirit I'd be happy to ship you a
>transcript of CBS's coverage on their evening news report of the
>Hacker's Convention a few weeks ago.

I think when Stev said "articles" in the above quote, he was just referring
to USENET/mailing list articles.  (Stev, beat me about the head and neck if
I'm misquoting you :-)  This spawned the discussion of problems with the
press.

Before I read your (very disturbing) account of CBS's mangulation of the
Hackers' Convention, I was already alarmed by the type and amount of press 
this whole Internet virus has gotten.  In the front page and followup
articles in the Boston Globe today (the Globe is a highly acclaimed,
respectable paper for you non-Bostonians) portrayed this Morris character
as a hackers' folk hero.  It seemed to quote countless people praising him
for his brilliance and ingenuity and suggesting that he did us all a favor
by "exposing" this sendmail bug to the Internet at large, but quoted nobody
who in any way, shape, or form said, "Oh great.  What an asshole."

No wonder there's this stereotype.

Shelli Meyers (who works for but doesn't speak for)
FTP Software, Inc.