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The paranoia is a reaction to a pop culture view of hackers through the media. The news media and the government only give accounts of hackers who are involved in illegal activity. The news only reports negative stories, and is hardly an objective source of information. Hollywood is also responsible for shaping the popular view of the cyber-elite. Through movies such as war games, Tron, The Net, Johnny Mnemonic, and Hackers.
To understand why the public has such a strong reaction to hackers one must first aquaint themselves with the background and development of this group.
History of Hacking
In 1878 the communication industry was just beginning to blossom. Bell Telephone was just being set up. They hired young men to run the lines. These young men proved to be more trouble than they were worth. They would often play pranks on people trying to use the phone lines. Bell changed its hiring policy and from then on only female operators were hired. | 
