May 12, 2004
German Worm Boy Wonder (not)
The BBC claims that Germany secretly celebrates the Worm Boy Wonder in an article relating to the arrest of a young German who has admitted to have developed the lethal computer virus Sasser.
To my surprise the BBC names "tageszeitung" (taz) and "Tagesspiegel" as -what they think- credible sources with large media influence. Reality is quite different though. Both papers and news services are only representing a small (even local) part of the overall newspaper circulation figures in Germany. As far as their news services are concerned the situation is very much the same.
I don't know why the BBC thinks that any German could have any pride in a kid that damages computer systems in such a way. And if the Tagesspiegel and the left-wing Tageszeitung feel that this is an indication for a sudden talent boost or even an underestimation of our youth's skill set then that is simply their own interpretation.
Finally, I feel that BBC's Clare Murphy makes her biggest mistake by starting the article describing the economic situation of Germany in a rather pessimistic and negative way. It might be bad, but not desperate enough for Germans to blow the nationalistic trumpet in the way described - not that we would do this anyway.
Posted by Michael at May 12, 2004 10:06 AMWell, I guess writing worms for Windows is easier that doing that for Mac OS X. Nevertheless the BBC's article is rather offensive, as if Germany's economic horizonts were to rise due to that worm.
Posted by: Michele Bugliaro at May 16, 2004 05:16 PM