f. As can be seen from this list, they make heavy use
of parody and mockery. It's revealing to see who they choose to mock.

First, large corporations. We have the Phortune 500, The Chief
Executive Officers, Bellcore, IBM Syndicate, SABRE (a computerized
reservation service maintained by airlines). The common use of "Inc."
is telling--none of these groups are actual corporations, but take
clear delight in mimicking them.

Second, governments and police. NASA Elite, NATO Association. "Feds R
Us" and "Secret Service" are fine bits of fleering boldness. OSS--the
Office of Strategic Services was the forerunner of the CIA.

Third, criminals. Using stigmatizing pejoratives as a perverse badge
of honor is a time-honored tactic for subcultures: punks, gangs,
delinquents, mafias, pirates, bandits, racketeers.

Specialized orthography, especially the use of "ph" for "f" and "z" for
the plural "s," are instant recognition symbols. So is the use of the
numeral "0" for the letter "O"--computer-software orthography generally
features a slash through the zero, making the distinction obvious.

Some terms are poetically descriptive of computer intrusion: the
Stowaways, the Hitchhikers, the PhoneLine Phantoms, Coast-to-Coast.
Others are simple bravado and vainglorious puffery. (Note the
insistent use of the terms "elite" and "master.") Some terms are
blasphemous, some obscene, others merely cryptic--anything to puzzle,
offend, confuse, and keep the straights at bay.

Many hacker groups further re-encrypt their names by the use of
acronyms: United Technical Underground becomes UTU, Farmers of Doom
become FoD, the United SoftWareZ Force becomes, at its own insistence,
"TuSwF," and woe to the ignorant rodent who capitalizes the wrong
letters.

It should be further recognized that the members of these groups are
themselves pseudonymous. If you did, in fact, run across the
"PhoneLine Phantoms," you would find them to consist of "Carrier
Culprit," "The Executioner," "Black Majik," "Egyptian Lover," "Solid
State," and "Mr Icom." "Carrier Culprit" will likely be referred to by
his friends as "CC," as in, "I got these dialups from CC of PLP."

It's quite possible that this entire list refers to as few as a
thousand people. It is not a complete list of underground
groups--there has never been such a list, and there never will be.
Groups rise, flourish, decline, share membership, maintain a cloud of
wannabes and casual hangers