It's just not popular to say writing viruses is bad. Writing viruses is bad. There, I've said it. Before, there was reason to believe that the kids simply did not realize the impact of their action on others. It is well documented that the Internet, and computers in general, have helped us to become desensitized to the effects of many of our actions toward others.
People know that writing, modifying, and distributing viruses is bad.
Well, sort of. It gets more complicated. In some universities, virus writing can be part of an approved curriculum. Combined with all the mixed messages from media and Internet culture, we can now factor in the functionality and ease of use of Visual Basic and Visual Basic for Applications, the languages of choice for the new crop of macro viruses. Many people in the workplace now feel it is not only their right, but their duty to play around with viruses.