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Clifford Stoll: Silicon Snake Oil
Second Thoughts on the Information Highway
Review by Hannes Rohde
Clifford Stoll introduced himself as an author some years ago with his fact-based
book "The Cuckoo's Egg" (title spelled "Das Kuckucksei" in german).
In this book he told the readers how he traced and cought German hackers who abused a
computer - administrated by him - to steal secret files from the US government.
At the time "Cuckoo's Egg" was published, the internet still was in the hands of a small and exclusive group of scientists and computerfreaks. The popular term "information highway" had yet to be formed.
But in the meantime, the status of the internet has changed: Today, the internet is a highly popular mass-medium. No day passes without at least one newspaper writing about the internet and the unlimited possibilities it is said to offer. E-mail addresses have become status symbols, and "surfing" the web is considered to be chic.
Clifford Stoll, who has worked with the internet since the very beginnings, takes a critical look at this hype in "Silicon Snake Oil": he consequently questions the "brave new world" of the internet, that is praised everywhere, and comes to a disillusioning conclusion: he can't agree with the widespread euphoria concerning the possibilities of the internet. By a countless number of examples he shows that the internet simply can't help you in many everyday tasks. For example, what benefit does a schoolkid get from the possibility of searching the index of the congress library, when this library doesn't lend books?
My opinion
The sudden 180 degree turnover of the author's opinion about computers - compared to his first book "The Cuckoo's egg" is a little surprising: While he describes himself as an enthusiastic computerfreak, who does only live for "his" machine in "The Cuckoos egg", he now poses hippie-like for TV-interviews, sitting in his garden and philosophizing about a life without computers. The wise discoveries he made while thinking gave the book a slight "teaching" note.
Nevertheless, I think Stoll is right: Everybody who has used the internet has to admit that it still has many faults and that the expectations, stirred up everywhere, in no way are justified.
Although there are many differences between the two books, they have one thing in common: They both share the authors dry humor and easy style of telling. This makes the book a recommended reading matter not only for internet users and computer freaks, but also for people who are not familiar with computer networks. Although it does not have a plot like "The Cuckoo's Egg", countless anecdotes from Stolls life make "Silicon Snake Oil" an amusing and interesting book for everybody interested in watching one of today's most discussed topics from a different perspective.
About the author
Hannes Rohde is a former student of Gesamtschule Bonn-Beuel. He now studies Computer Science at the University of Bonn.
An internet project of Integrierte Gesamtschule Bonn-Beuel
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Stand: 29.03.1998 |
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