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[Ian Ballantyne <ian@onlineloop.com>]

Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
>From NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/05VIRU.html?th
By AMY HARMON
Published: February 5, 2004

When Scott Granneman, a technology instructor, heard that one of his former 
students had clicked on a strange e-mail attachment and infected her computer 
with the MyDoom Internet virus last week, empathy did not figure anywhere in 
his immediate response.

 "You actually got infected by the virus?" he wrote in an e-mail message to 
the former student, Robin Woltman, a university grant administrator. "You, 
Robin? For shame!"

 As MyDoom, the fastest-spreading virus ever, continues to clog e-mail 
in-boxes and disrupt business, the computer-savvy are becoming openly hostile 
toward the not-so-savvy who unwittingly play into the hands of virus writers.

 The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between 
technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy 
the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it 
responsibly.

 The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: 
never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins 
to send itself to the names in that person's e-mail address book. If no one 
opened the attachment, the virus's destructive power would never be unleashed.

 "It takes affirmative action on the part of the clueless user to become 
infected," wrote Scott Bowling, president of the World Wide Web Artists 
Consortium, expressing frustration on the group's discussion forum. "How to 
beat this into these people's heads?"

 Many of the million or so people who have so far infected their computers 
with MyDoom say it is not their fault. The virus often comes in a message 
that appears to be from someone they know, with an innocuous subject line 
like "test" or "error." It is human nature, they say, to open the mail and 
attachments.

 But computer sophisticates say it reflects a willful ignorance of basic 
computer skills that goes well beyond virus etiquette. At a time when more 
than two-thirds of American adults use the Internet, they say, such 
carelessness is no longer excusable, particularly when it messes things up 
for everyone else.

 For years, many self-described computer geeks seemed eager to usher 
outsiders onto their electronic frontier. Everyone, it seemed, had a friend 
or family member in the geek elite who could be summoned - often frequently - 
in times of computer crisis.

 But as those same friends and family members are called upon again and again 
to save the computer incompetents from themselves, the geeks' patience is 
growing thin. As it does, a new kind of digital divide is opening up between 
populations of computer users who must coexist in the same digital world. 

 "Viruses are just the tip of the iceberg," said Bill Melcher, who runs his 
own technical support business in San Francisco. "When it comes to computers, 
a lot of intelligent people and fast learners just decide that they don't 
know."

 Many of the computationally confused say they suffer from genuine 
intimidation and even panic over how to handle the mysterious machines they 
have come to rely on for so much of daily life. Virus writers, spammers and 
scammers, they say, are the ones who should be held accountable for the chaos 
they cause. 

 But as the same people equip themselves with fancy computers and take 
advantage of the Internet for things like shopping and banking, critics say 
that their perpetual state of confusion has begun to get tiresome. And while 
the Internet's traditional villains remain elusive, those inadvertently 
helping them tend to be friends and neighbors. 

 Some in the technocamp imagine requiring a license to operate a computer, 
just like the one required to drive a car. Others are calling for a 
punishment that fits a careless crime. People who click on virus attachments, 
for instance, could be cut off by their Internet service providers until they 
proved that their machines had been disinfected.

 And some, tired of being treated like free help lines, are beginning to 
rebel. They are telling friends, relatives and random acquaintances to figure 
it out on their own.

"Go out, get a book," suggests Zack Rubenstein, 28, who has for years 
provided free technical support for his extended social network. "You went to 
college and you got a degree, you obviously can learn something. Play around 
with it; it's not going to kill you."

 Mr. Rubenstein, a member of the technical support staff at a New York City 
law school he thought it best not to identify, is not at liberty to dispense 
such advice at work. Instead, he answers endless calls about malfunctioning 
monitors that turn out not to be plugged in, and broken printers that start 
working again as soon as he removes the single piece of paper obviously 
jamming them. 

 "Especially dealing with academics," Mr. Rubenstein added, "you'd think 
they'd have some ability to deduce or think problems through for a minute."

 Not so long ago, he took pleasure in showing people around the brave new 
digital world that he moved in with such ease. Now that everyone has a 
technical question, he says, being a tour guide has lost its charm.

 But his girlfriend, Miriam Tauber, 24, makes no apologies for her lack of 
computer knowledge. To her, computers are like "moody people" who behave 
illogically. If people like Mr. Rubenstein expect her to understand them, she 
suggests, perhaps they should learn to speak in a language she can 
understand, rather than ridiculous acronyms and suffixes.

 "There are these MP3's and PDF's and a million other things that you don't 
even know what they are," Ms. Tauber said. "I don't feel like I need to 
figure out computers, because my instinct is there's just no way." 

 Still, if there is any evidence that the antagonism of the technical elite 
is having an effect, it may be in the mounting degree of shame among those 
who make obvious mistakes, or ask obvious questions too often.

 When Julie Dillon, 33, had trouble installing a wireless card in her 
Macintosh laptop last weekend, for instance, she stopped herself from calling 
a friend three blocks away who works for Apple Computer because she knows he 
is besieged.

 "There's this whole complicated interchange - are you calling them as a 
friend or are you calling them as tech support - and I definitely feel a 
little bit guilty," said Ms. Dillon, a musician in San Francisco. "It's a 
fine line that has changed because I remember a few years ago it was no big 
deal."

 Instead, Ms. Dillon called Mr. Melcher, who has built his technical support 
business in part on referrals from friends who no longer wanted to handle the 
demands of other friends. 

 Ms. Dillon, who considers her laptop "a blessing" that helps her promote her 
music, said she was happy to pay for the help. She has also frequently 
received technical support in exchange for dinner, and, once, for a song.

 Even parents are being left to fend for themselves as their children tire of 
dispensing advice.

 David Hale, 25, a lawyer in St. Louis, said he had rebuilt his parents' 
virus-ridden computer from scratch several times in recent months before he 
learned that his father, Dale, was replying to every piece of his spam 
e-mail, asking to be taken off the spammers' mailing lists. Dale Hale, 47, 
also frequently clicked on pop-up ads that appeared to be messages from 
Microsoft telling him to upgrade his computer.

 "It would cause fights between my parents because they would argue about 
whether a particular one was legitimate and I'm like, `It is NEVER 
legitimate,' " said Mr. Hale, who explained as patiently as he could that 
answering spam and clicking on pop-ups only invite more of the same. 

 After that, Dale Hale said, his son would sometimes become frustrated by his 
and his wife's questions. They in turn would get frustrated with their son's 
instructions, especially over the phone. Eventually they bought antivirus 
software.

 "We've learned by the lumps and bumps," the father said.

 (People who had installed the major antivirus software programs from 
companies like McAfee were largely protected from the MyDoom virus after 
downloading updates available a few hours after the virus's appearance on 
Jan. 26.) 

 Perhaps the one thing that technophobes and technophiles can agree on is 
that software companies like Microsoft should make things easier and more 
secure for all kinds of computer users. But Microsoft, whose Web site has so 
far withstood a continuing attack by the MyDoom virus, had a reminder for 
users, too.

 "Responsibility is shared," said Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief security 
strategist. "With some of these viruses that require user action, people have 
a responsibility to be careful and protect themselves."