Then along came Robert Morris with his Internet worm in 1988. Crashing 6,000 Net-linked computers earned Morris the distinction of being the first person convicted under the Act's computer-crime provision. Translation: a $10,000 fine and too many hours of community service.

Soon you needed a scorecard to keep up with the arrests. That same year Kevin Mitnick broke into the Digital Equipment Company's computer network; he was nabbed and sentenced to a year in jail. Then Kevin #2 -- Kevin Poulsen -- was indicted on phone-tampering charges. Kevin #2 went on the lam and avoided the long arm of the law for 17 months.

Operation Sundevil was the name the government gave to its ham-handed 1990 attempt to crack down on hackers across the country, including the Legion of Doom. It didn't work. But the following year Crackdown Redux resulted in jail sentences for four members of the Masters of Deception. Phiber Optik spent a year in federal prison.