The Cuckoo's Egg , Clifford Stoll detailed his experiences trying to track down someone breaking into a system at A 75-cent discrepancy in the Lab's accounting records led Stoll on a chase through California, Virginia, and Europe to end up in a small apartment in Hannover, West Germany. Stoll dealt with many levels of bureaucracy and red tape, and worked with the FBI, the CIA, and the German Bundespost trying to track his hacker down. The experiences of Stoll, and particularly his message in speaking engagements, have all pointed out the dire need for communication between parties on a network of networks. The only way everyone can peacefully co-exist in Cyberspace is by ensuring rapid recognition of any existing problems. The indomitable need for humans to congregate and share their common interests is also present in the computing world.
User groups exist around the world, where people share ideas and experiences.
Since then, the ACM has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the leading educational and scientific societies in the computer industry. There are local chapters around the world, and many colleges and universities endorse student chapters. A large variety of published material is also available at discounted prices for members of the association. Each of the SIGs also publishes its own newsletter. There is a Usenet group, comp.org.acm , for the discussion of ACM topics.